Because She Told Me To
by Hyaroo
Summary: Neville makes a shocking discovery about Luna Lovegood and learns that genuine trouble doesn't always have to involve Death Eaters. FEMMESLASH, takes place during HBP.
1. Neville's Discovery

_This is the second revision - in other words, the third version - of my first completed multi-chapter fanfic, finally cleaned up and subtly altered for presentation here on this site. It takes place during "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," and the events of the book sometimes overlap with this story._

_Slight warning before we start: This story is rated M for a reason; there's a fair bit of sexual content here (most of it girl/girl, and some of it, as you will see, rather disturbing) - but it's **not a romance story.** Shippers will be disappointed, and most likely people looking for out-and-out porn will be disappointed as well. What I've tried to do was write a story where sex played a part in the plot, and at the same time speculate a little on how sex fits into the wizarding world such as we know it. _

_I've tried to stick to the tone and feel of J. K. Rowling's universe here, but I also wanted to add my own personal touches to it. And of course, I touch on a few subjects here that would never in a million years be allowed in an official Harry Potter book._

_Consider yourselves warned._

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><p><strong>BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO<strong>

**Based on the _Harry Potter_ books by J. K. Rowling.**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE:<br>****Neville's Discovery**

* * *

><p>It was really a coincidence that Neville got involved in it all.<p>

In truth, he'd never really considered himself to be all that close to Luna Lovegood - oh, she was nice enough, in her nonsensically spacey way, and they _had_ struck up a kind of friendship after the big battle at the Department of Mysteries; but he had his lessons at Hogwarts and she had hers, and she wasn't even in Gryffindor, so it wasn't unusual for days or even weeks to pass between each time they spoke. In fact, the entire first month had passed of Neville's sixth year and Luna's fifth, and they had barely said two words to one another since returning to Hogwarts.

But then came the day that was to change everything. Even years later, when Neville thought back to the events that transpired that year, the last year when Albus Dumbledore was Headmaster at Hogwarts, the year that so many things happened and the world would change forever, he could still pinpoint the exact moment in time when the events started that would change everything for_ him,_ and more specifically, drastically change his relationship with Luna.

It was a cold and blustery Sunday morning in early October, just after breakfast, when Neville made his way down to the greenhouses to see how his _Mimbulus Mimbletonia _was doing. (The previous year he'd kept it in his dormitory, but after one complaint too many from his dorm-mates, he'd managed to get Professor Sprout to agree to keep it in Greenhouse Number Three.) About halfway there, he discovered that Trevor the Toad had once again escaped from his normal place in Neville's robe pocket and gone hopping off, presumably on another of his "expeditions."

Sighing and hoping that Trevor hadn't managed to get too far this time, Neville put the trip to Greenhouse Number Three on hold to look for his toad.

It was then he saw Luna approaching. She was running at top speed up the path, her robes fluttering around her and - very strangely for such a cold morning - revealed two bare legs, completely free of any kind of shoes or socks.

"Hello, Neville," she said breathlessly as she came closer to him, slowing down and flashing him a brilliant, if somewhat teeth-clattering, smile. The wind tussled up he long, dirty-blonde hair and made her look even stranger than usual.

"Er. Hi, Luna," said Neville, trying not to stare at her bare legs. He'd never understood why some people would go without shoes even in the summer, let alone in early October - but then, he remembered something Harry had told him last year. "Did - did someone steal your shoes or something?"

"Oh, no," said Luna, clearly trying to get her clattering teeth under control as she hopped from one naked foot to the other. "I'm just not wearing them."

Neville blinked. "Er, okay. Er, not that it's any of my business," he added, as gently as he could, "but isn't it a little cold to go barefoot?"

"Yes, that's why I'm rather in a hurry, you know." Luna balanced unsteadily on her right foot while rubbing the left with her hand. "The ground is very cold to walk on."

"I... can imagine," Neville said. "Why did you go out without shoes in the first place, though?"

"Because she told me to."

Neville blinked again. He'd expected a long, implausible story on how walking barefoot in October was the only way to ward off Vermicious Knids or something like that. He was about to ask her who this 'she' was, when Luna shifted over to her left foot so that she could rub her right one - and as she did so she hiked her robe up probably a little higher than she'd intended and revealed something that gave Neville quite a start and made him quite forget his question:

_She was completely naked underneath her robe._

Neville's cheeks burned hot and his mouth ran dry. He had never seen a naked girl in real life before and wasn't at all prepared for anything like it - the glimpse only lasted for a second before Luna's robe fell down again and covered her nakedness, but that brief second had been more than enough. The roundness of her hips, the smooth pale thighs, the dark blonde tuft of hair between her legs; the moment with all its details was etched in on his inner eye, momentarily crowding his mind and pushing away everything else.

"I, er, you...?" he began, and then realised he had absolutely no idea how to continue that sentence. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to remember how to speak properly.

Luna looked at him, her large grey eyes concerned above her still-clattering teeth. "Are you all right?" she said, and didn't even seem to realise that she had, however briefly, bared herself for him to see. "It was a Wrackspurt, wasn't it? There's been a lot of them around lately - making people's minds go - all strange. It's happened to - me - as well." This last part came out in a rather halting manner, as her teeth were beginning to clatter even worse.

Whether it was her reference to yet another of those creatures that nobody except her had heard of, or the fact that she was obviously freezing and uncomfortable, Neville couldn't say; but this snapped him or of his momentary daze, and he regained control of his voice. "L-Luna!" he said. "You're freezing! You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here with no - _shoes!"_

She beamed at him. "It's so nice of you - to be concerned about me!" she said. "I'll go warm up - I promise! I'll see you later!" And with that, she pushed past him, picking up speed again and running down the path at top speed.

Leaving him standing there, flustered and confused, all of a sudden noticing that his heart was beating rather faster than normal. _Merlin's beard!_ his mind screamed at him. _I just saw her -! _

What was Luna doing, going around stark naked underneath her robes... oh, and in this weather? And here at school? What if she ran into a teacher, or...? Neville swallowed several times. He knew Luna was a bit of an eccentric, but surely even she had to see what a bad idea this was? _She was all round and soft and -!_

He slapped himself, hard, to get his mind away from the thoughts that ware suddenly crowding up, thoughts he _really _shouldn't have about his friend. It helped, but only a little.

No, no, he couldn't get involved. He couldn't tell her that he had seen, he _couldn't. _Besides, she would go and get properly dressed now, right? She wouldn't let herself freeze, would she?

Forcing himself not to think about Luna naked (and only _partially _succeeding), he set out looking for Trevor again.

* * *

><p>After fifteen minutes, he had mostly managed to get his mind back on track.<p>

He'd found Trevor hopping around down by the lake, and had just managed to catch the toad before he jumped into the water for a swim. Apologizing profoundly to the toad for interrupting the swim ("but I don't want any of the merpeople to mistake you for a snack!"), he scooped him up and returned him to his proper place in the deepest, most comfortable robe pocket.

With Trevor recovered, Neville could once again set out for his original destination; Greenhouse Number Three and his beloved _Mimbulus Mimbletonia._ He wasn't thinking of Luna at all, really, as he approached the greenhouse, his mind now mostly on Herbology and the proper care of plants. He didn't even pause as he heard the muffled voices from within the greenhouse - after all, the greenhouses were open to everybody, even if it was rare for anyone else than him (and sometimes Professor Sprout) to bother taking the trip down here on a Sunday. Probably a couple of students were looking for Potions ingredients or something.

But then, just as he was to open the door to the greenhouse, he stopped. Even muffled by the glass, so that he couldn't make out the actual words, there was no mistaking that one voice that came from within; it was Luna. Luna was in there, together with at least one other student - a girl, judging by the sound of the other voice.

Of course. When he had met Luna earlier, she must have been on her way to the greenhouses. He just hadn't made that connection at the time, because -

Immediately, and _quite _without his consent, his mind replayed the sight of her naked bottom half for his inner eye, as clear and detailed as if he was still looking at it in real life.

Neville clenched his teeth. And he'd _just _managed to get his mind off Luna, too! If this kept up, he'd never again be able to see or hear her without picturing her naked! What would she say if she knew that about him? But if he started avoiding her, she'd probably start wondering why, and then...

He looked towards the greenhouse. He couldn't see anyone through the glass walls, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Luna, and whoever else was in there with her, could easily be standing behind one of the bigger plants and be obscured from his view.

Whenever he thought back on this moment later, Neville couldn't say just why he did what he did next. He was usually not one for snooping; his grandmother had taught him from an early age that private conversations were not meant to have audiences. But right now, and almost without thinking, he began digging in his pocket (the one without Trevor) for his Spynoculars.

The Spynoculars had been a gift from the Weasley twins, one of the few gifts Neville had ever received from someone outside his immediate family. Almost two years earlier, after the party for Harry in Gryffindor tower where Fred and George had tricked him into eating that Canary Cream and temporarily turning into a giant bird, they had taken him aside, thanked him for "helping them test out their product" and given him the Spynoculars "as a small token of their esteem." Of course, the way they had kept "casually" asking him how the Spynoculars were working over the next few months had clued him in that the _real _reason they had given them to him were to test them out as well. Still, Neville had thought it was a nice gesture, and perhaps because he had hardly ever received any presents from his fellow students before, he had taken to carrying them around in his pocket, even if he hardly ever used them anymore.

In short, the Spynoculars were a smaller, cheaper and much less advanced version of the Omnoculars that Neville had seen advertised in magazines and papers. While they couldn't record or play back what you had seen like the Omnoculars could, the Spynoculars had one big advantage: You didn't have to look directly at whatever it was you wanted to see. They could look around corners, or directly behind you, and give you a perfectly clear view of anything that would otherwise be difficult for you to see - and you didn't even have to move your head in the direction in question. (Neville had once, out of curiosity, used the Spynoculars to look up his own nose, and afterwards he had promised himself never to do that again.) They couldn't see through solid objects or walls, but since the greenhouse walls were made out of glass, this particular limitation wouldn't be a problem.

Fishing the small, magical binoculars out of his pocket, Neville brushed the worst lint off them and placed them to his eyes.

At first, as he focused on the inside of the greenhouse, he saw only the usual familiar plants, not a trace of Luna, nor of her unknown companion. But he was hearing their voices still, and now there were other sounds as well; distorted and muffled by the glass, but sounding a little like someone being slapped. And there was distinct movement there behind one bench, down by the floor.

Neville wasn't even thinking anymore; he automatically maneuvered the view of the Spynoculars in around the plants and downwards to get a good look.

And then nearly fell backwards in surprise when he found himself staring directly at a girl's bare bottom.

It was Luna, he realised, struggling to keep his balance. Luna, naked as the day she was born, was lying stomach-down and draped over the legs of an older girl Neville didn't know - a rather pretty girl with long, dark hair that somehow contrasted nicely with Luna's scraggly blonde hair. And the girl, right in front of Neville's disbelieving eyes, was bringing her hand down on Luna's bare bottom, again and again, the sound of the swats muted by the glass walls but still audible to Neville.

Then, almost without warning, the girl pulled Luna's head up and kissed her on the lips. From her somewhat awkward position, Luna responded to the kiss as well as she could, before being let go and flopping down over the older girl's lap, bottom high up in the air.

The girl grinned and said something that Neville couldn't quite make out before resuming the spanking - and now her swats were considerably harder, judging by the moans and whimpers that escaped Luna's throat and reached Neville's ears, and he thought he heard her say _"yes, yes, yes..."_

As if suddenly waking up from an enchantment, Neville pulled the Spynoculars from his eyes, feeling his cheeks burn hot and his heart beat much faster than normal. Turning around, he fled from the greenhouse as fast as he could, several chaotic emotions struggling for domination inside him.

* * *

><p>Neville had no idea how he ended up in the Room of Requirement, but thankfully it lived up to its name and provided him with exactly what he needed right now: A quiet, secluded place where he could sit and gather his thoughts for a while. Today, it had taken on the form of a small, cosy room with no furniture except for a comfy chair and a small table, both placed by a large window, enchanted to appear like it was overlooking a calm, serene forest scene.<p>

After removing Trevor from his pocket and placing him on the ground so he could hop around as he pleased, Neville slumped down in the chair and took several deep breaths. He could still feel the heat of his blush on his face - and what was worse, he could feel a familiar but at the moment extremely unwelcome discomfort in his nether regions.

He was a bad, bad person. That scene had been private, not meant for him to see at all, and yet he had gone out of his way to spy. And now he was sitting here and feeling horny because he had seen it. Neville had been brought up to _respect _women (Gran had certainly seen to that), and he was certain this was about as disrespectful as it was possible to be.

It was just that - he had never imagined Luna - that Luna might -

He swallowed several times as the scene played for his inner eye again, and he was powerless to stop it.

Well, he knew, from being forced to overhear many a late-night conversation between Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan (who often talked about girls, and in such embarrassingly intimate details that Neville never knew how to react) that there were girls who were sexually attracted to other girls, and there were girls who rather liked being spanked as well. Dean had even shown him a Muggle magazine once, featuring still-standing pictures of naked Muggle girls doing all sorts of things to one another. It had taken Neville's face nearly to hours to return to its normal colour, and afterwards he hadn't quite looked at girls, or Dean for that matter, in the same way.

It had just been a shock to find that someone he actually knew was out there right now and doing, er, naughty things together with another girl. And for it to be Luna... Neville liked her quite a lot, strange and eccentric as she was, but he had never thought of her in any sort of sexual way before. But now, all kinds of sexual thoughts were crowding his mind, all of them starring Luna. He could still picture the soft roundness of her bottom, the way she squirmed and whimpered when -

For the second time that day, he slapped himself to stop his mind from running away with him to places he didn't want to go. Luna was a _friend_, not an - an object for him to lust over. And he had intruded on a scene where he hadn't been invited and seen things that were really none of his business.

_That's right, _he scolded himself. _It really is none of your business. It's none of your business that Luna likes girls "that way." It's absolutely none of your business that she likes to be spanked. And it most especially is none of your business that she's probably still with that other girl right now and having her arse smacked and probably doing all sorts of other things, and, and she's the first girl you've seen naked and, and, and I never knew she had blonde hair down there, and she looked so soft and -_

He slapped himself for a third time to shut his mind up. His mind took revenge by suggesting to him that maybe, just maybe, somewhere in this very castle someone else was sitting and slapping themselves because they _liked _it!

Neville grabbed a pillow that, typically of the Room of Requirement, was just within reach, pressed it to his face and let out a series of frustrated screams.

Feeling a little calmer, he put the pillow away and sat back in the chair to think.

Okay. All right. So Luna was attracted to girls, just like the Muggle girls in Dean's magazine. He had no problem with that, more power to her. But why had she and that other girl chosen the greenhouse, of all places to, er, act on their attractions? And why had Luna gone outside with nothing on underneath her robe? Of course, she had clearly intended to get naked once she reached the greenhouse, but... well, why subject herself to such an uncomfortable experience as walking barefoot outside in October? She very clearly had been very cold, so the thought that she might use a charm of some sort to keep warm was unlikely. Was it all a part of the sexual experience?

For that matter - was she actually _allowed _to do any of this? What did the school rules say?

Neville had barely finished the thought when he noticed a rolled-up piece of parchment lying on the (previously empty) table next to him. He grabbed and unrolled it, and was unsurprised to find that it was a list of the school rules.

"The Room of Requirement delivers again," he said to Trevor, who had settled down beside the chair and looked fairly uninterested in the entire deal.

The list turned out to be a lot longer than Neville had expected. There were _many _rules, some of which seemed rather absurd and oddly specific (_"Students may not Transfigure their umbrellas into parachutes and jump from the Astronomy Tower"? "There is never to be more than three ostriches on school grounds at the same time"?_), and Neville wondered a little how many rules there were here that he himself had broken without ever knowing.

But finally, after much searching (and he wasn't completely sure he hadn't messed up and read the same paragraph twice a few times), he found the one rule he was looking for, the one about sex on Hogwarts grounds.

_"Any sexual activity involving one or more students is prohibited on school grounds,"_ said the rule. _"Depending on circumstances, students discovered willingly participating in any kind of sexual relations will be punished by loss of House points, detentions or, in serious cases, expulsion. __Sexual relationships between students and teachers__,"_(now there was a disgusting thought) _"__will be punished by the immediate termination of the teacher's employment and the expulsion of the student. Sexual relationships between any human and non-human__,"_ (even more disgusting) _"__will result in the expulsion of the human in question, combined with a longer stay at the psychiatric ward at St. Mungo's Hospital.__"_

Well, that answered that. Neville wondered how many students knew about this rule, and how many students willingly broke it - there were a lot of romances and relationships going on between students at any time, surely some of them decided to -

He shook his head. No, better not to think about that. The important part here was that Luna was breaking a school rule that could potentially lead to her expulsion. Maybe that was why she and the other girl had chosen Greenhouse Number Three as the place for their, er, meeting; they thought it was a place where no-one would discover them. Who visited the greenhouses before breakfast on a Sunday, after all?

...Well, obviously _he _did, but they probably didn't know that.

But reading the rule had made Neville's mind up on what to do with hie discovery about Luna: Absolutely nothing. If it ever came out that she - that she -

And now he was blushing again. And seeing the entire scene for his inner eye, in detail. _And _feeling that certain part of his anatomy acting up again. He'd go mad if this kept up.

But he didn't want to see Luna get in trouble. Not to mention, he'd probably die of embarrassment if he had to tell anyone what he had seen. He'd just pretend he'd never seen anything, and no-one would be the wiser.

* * *

><p>For the next few weeks, Neville managed not to think too much about Luna. It helped, of course, that he, like everyone else that year, had a lot of other things on his mind.<p>

Most prominent, of course, was the schoolwork - the NEWT-level lessons were taking up a lot of time for everyone and even _more _time, it seemed, for Neville, who had never been a great student. (Thank goodness for Hermione Granger, who was usually willing to help out and had a way of explaining things so Neville could understand them.)

Less prominent in the day-to-day life of the average Hogwarts student, but no less significant in the big scheme of things, was the knowledge of the looming war. You-Know-Who was out there, and while the war had yet to reach Hogwarts, there were several rather disturbing signs that maybe the school was not as safe as Neville had always been told. The most obvious, and most disturbing, sign being the horrible affair with Katie Bell.

Somehow, while out in Hogsmeade, Katie had been placed under the Imperius curse and almost been killed, and now she was in a coma at St. Mungo's hospital with no word as to when, or even if, she would recover.

Neville hadn't really known Katie all that well, but she had always seemed like a pleasant sort, and he couldn't imagine who'd would want to kill her, or why. He had made a point to check his DA coin at least once every day after that, just in case Harry would decide to start the DA meetings again, but it never happened. And somehow, after the conversation he'd had with Harry on the Hogwarts express at the start of the term, Neville didn't really want to be the one who brought it up. If Harry needed the help of the DA, he'd let them know, wouldn't he?

In short, there were so many things to occupy his mind that Neville almost managed to forget Luna and what he had seen. Only occasionally would the thoughts come, whenever he happened to meet her in the hallways or in the Great Hall (but he always managed to act normally during those times, and she never seemed to suspect that he knew something) - or late at night when he couldn't sleep and the fantasies would just _force _themselves upon him... but he always did his best to forget those times afterwards. They were _horribly _disrespectful and always made him feel very guilty.

Still, and it might be that his guilt was fueling it, whenever he _did _think about Luna, after the first heated thoughts had calmed down, he was beginning to feel more concerned about her - well, about her and that other girl; Claire Savelle, he'd found out her name was, a seventh-year Muggle-born Ravenclaw.

Was it just because he knew about them now that he began seeing the connections, or were they being horribly indiscreet about their relationship? Did nobody else ever notice how Claire always seemed to be nearby wherever Luna was, almost always sitting close to her at dinner, often found "casually" standing in the hallways whenever Luna walked around the school? Was it possible for anyone to miss the way Luna would suddenly become shy and avert her eyes whenever Claire looked at her? (Luna _never _averted her eyes from anyone, not even from Professor Snape when he was at his most horrid!) And was Neville really the only one who saw it that one time when Claire took Luna's hand and dragged her off to parts unknown, with no explanation?

No, it really seemed like nobody noticed. Nobody cared enough about Luna to see what was so obvious to Neville, and he couldn't decide whether that was a tremendous relief or horribly sad, or both.

It's hard to say how long things would have continued the way they were, it it hadn't been for what Neville would later think of as the Dinner Table Incident.

It had started out like a completely normal dinner at Hogwarts. Neville was quietly eating and listening to the conversations around him. The subjects were pretty much the same as they had been all year: Schoolwork, Quidditch, and a few hushed murmurings about the war and about Katie Bell. Neville didn't really feel he had anything to contribute to either of these conversations, and so he didn't join in.

Quite by chance, somewhere around the middle of the meal, he happened to look over at the Ravenclaw table and spot Luna. He noticed that unlike everyone else, she wasn't eating, just staring off into space with a glazed look on her face. He might not have questioned this if he hadn't also noticed that Claire, who was sitting right next to Luna, was using only one hand to eat, because her other hand was under the table and judging by the positioning of her arm might be in Luna's lap -

Oh, no. She _wasn't_, was she? Right here at the dinner table?

And then Luna's lips parted in a small gasp, and she sat up just a _little _straighter, and Neville was so startled and embarrassed that he drove his face right down into his mashed potatoes with a large _CLANG _and a softer _SPLAT_.

The next thing he knew, the air around him was filled by laughter and jeering, courtesy of his fellow students. "Forget your table manners, Longbottom?" - "There's a man who enjoys his food!" - "Neville, aren't you getting enough sleep?" That last one was Hermione; concerned as always.

He managed to dodge the questions, quickly raised himself and ran out of the Great Hall, tripping twice because he couldn't see very well with the mashed potato in his eyes.

Oh well, at least he had managed to draw attention away from Luna and Claire. He couldn't believe that nobody had noticed them! Were they _trying _to get themselves expelled?

After having stumbled, half-blind, down the hallways for a while, he managed to find a boys' restroom where he could clean the mashed potato off himself. (At least, he feebly thought as he opened the door and nearly tripped inside, he _hoped _it was a boys' restroom; it would be just his luck if he had managed to go wrong and entered a girls' restroom by mistake.)

Leaning over the sink, he looked at his own potato-covered face in the mirror. What wasn't covered by potato was still looking rather red and flustered, he noticed, but hopefully nobody had noticed - or if they had, they had attributed his blushing to his embarrassment over dropping into his food like that, not to anything else.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down before turning the tap and splashing the surprisingly ice-cold water over his face. The cold was a good cure for his blush, he discovered; as he grabbed a towel to dry himself he found that he'd gone back to his normal colour again.

Now that he was a little calmer, and the blush was gone, he could think.

What _was _going on with Luna and Claire? Well, all right, yes, he knew what was going on, and he really didn't want to start blushing about it again, but... Was this sort of thing normal? Had people in love always done things like that in public, and he'd just been too wrapped up in himself to notice?

For the first time since that fateful day when Neville had first discovered Luna and Claire, an awful thought struck him: What if this wasn't just a romance? What if it was something else, maybe something _bad_?

Now that he thought about it, for all the small moments he'd noticed between the two girls, he couldn't remember seeing Luna smile, not even once. Not since that day, when when she had smiled at him and called him nice for being concerned about her. He felt a little pang of guilt at that; in his opinion, he should have been more concerned about _her _and less about himself and how the situation had made _him _feel.

Still... Not that Neville had any experience to speak of, but weren't people in love supposed to smile a lot and be very happy? They weren't supposed to - to - Well, whatever it was Luna and Claire did, that wasn't it.

For a moment, Neville envisioned Claire as a Junior Death Eater who had placed Luna under the Imperius curse and made her do all sorts of - _(__d__on't start blushing again!)__ -_ things for her. But he dismissed that thought almost as soon as it had appeared; Death Eaters might be rampant in the rest of Britain, but surely there were none at Hogwarts? Not among the students, anyway?

There was something Luna had said that day, though, wasn't it...? Something that might help explain everything... but his memory wasn't always very reliable, and besides, every time he tried to think back to the moment, the sight of Luna's _(don't blush!)_ nakedness tended to drown out most of the other things that had happened at the time. He was certain she had said _something_, but he couldn't remember what.

Neville sighed and - not for the first time in his life - wished that he'd been Hermione Granger. Hermione would have remembered everything. She would also have known exactly what was wrong, and what to do about it. She wouldn't have spent several weeks trying and failing to ignore everything, she would have gone and done... well, he didn't know exactly what she would have done, but it would have no doubt been something very clever, and would turn out to be precisely the right thing to do.

But he wasn't Hermione. And he didn't dare ask her for help either. She was so busy these days, and... and... well, he just couldn't tell her that he had seen Luna having - _(Don't blush!)_ - things done to her. This wasn't the sort of thing you could talk to a girl about, not even Hermione.

He briefly thought about his other friends, and what they might do.

Ron Weasley was the easiest to imagine; he'd probably fly off his handle in some way and go off to confront Claire Savelle and ask her what the hell she was doing to Luna.

Harry Potter was harder to predict, but maybe he'd have used that Invisibility Cloak of his to spy on Luna and Claire until he was certain whether Claire was doing anything bad to Luna or not.

Ginny Weasley would definitely talk to Luna about it; she was straightforward like that.

Ginny's boyfriend, Dean Thomas, would probably decide that it was none of his business anyway, maybe just refer to the events of those Muggle magazines of his, and not get involved.

As for Seamus Finnigan... Neville shook his head, perfectly able to imagine Seamus's face as he made lewd jokes about girl-sex and completely failed to take any of this seriously.

No, none of this was helping any.

Neville was just, well, Neville. He didn't have any talents for finding things out - or for anything much, really. But Luna was his friend. Maybe not his closest friend, but still... they had fought together at the Department of Mysteries. They had been in the DA together. And she had never been anything but kind to him. If anything bad happened to her because Neville hadn't done anything to stop it, he'd never forgive himself.

He'd find some way, he decided, giving his mirror-self a nod to boost his confidence a little. He may not be brave, smart or talented, but he would find a way. With that, he walked towards the door and pressed the door handle.

Just then, he heard a giggle from outside which made him let go of the door handle and take a few steps back. He'd have recognized that voice anywhere by now; it was Claire Savelle.

Was Claire outside the restroom together with Luna?

Neville's mind raced; what would he do? He could go out and confront them both right now, of course, but... no. He fumbled in his pocket for his Spynoculars instead. Luckily, the door hadn't completely closed when he'd entered the restroom, there was still a tiny crack between door and wall, and that would hopefully be enough for the Spynoculars.

Pressing them to his eyes, Neville quickly adjusted the vision and found that he could see the outside just fine. The Hallway was empty, apart from Claire Savelle, of course, who was in the middle of a passionate kiss with -

_That wasn't Luna!_

The curly red hair, the faded acne behind heavy layers of makeup still spelling the word _SNEAK. _Even Neville, with his less-than-perfect memory, could never forget that face even if he tried: It was Marietta Edgecombe, the Ravenclaw girl that had sold the DA out to Dolores Umbridge last year!

Neville was so startled that he fell backwards, landing on his bottom with a loud _THUD! _and at the same time accidentally kicking the door open. Before he could raise himself, the two girls were peering in, looking at him with red and flustered (and in Marietta's case, acne-and-makeup-filled) faces.

"Longbottom? It's Longbottom, isn't it?" said Marietta, as if she had expected someone else. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing!" Neville squeaked. "I just, I, I thought I saw a spider!"

"Maybe it was the same spider that caused you to try eating with your nose at dinner?" said Claire with a smirk.

"Yes!" It wasn't much of a reply, but it was the only one Neville could think of. He got to his feet, hoping the girls wouldn't notice the Spynoculars he was clutching in his hand as he pushed past them and out the door. "Excuse me - got to - got to go!" he managed to say before storming off.

He had to find Luna.

* * *

><p>After almost half an hour of frantic searching, he found her in the Great Hall. She was still sitting at the Ravenclaw table, in pretty much the exact same spot she had been sitting at dinner, reading an issue of <em>The Quibbler.<em> (Although how she managed to read with the magazine upside-down was way beyond him.)

"L-Luna," he panted.

"Oh, hello, Neville," she said seriously, looking up from her _Quibbler._ "Your face looks much better without the mashed potato on it."

If this had come from anyone else, Neville would have thought they were making fun of him - but Luna was different. "Thank you," he muttered, sitting down opposite her while catching his breath again and wondering where exactly to begin.

"If you wanted a second helping, I'm afraid you're too late," she continued, looking at him with a grave expression. "The table's cleared and all the food is gone."

"Then why are you still sitting here?" Neville asked.

"Because she told me to," said Luna, turning the page of her magazine without looking at it. "Luckily I had an old _Quibbler _to read so I wouldn't get bored. Have you read this one? It's the one with the article about how many Muggles really know all about magic, but pretend that they don't because they write these books about -"

"Wait" Neville exclaimed as the memory, quite suddenly, appeared in his mind. _That was it!_ That was the missing memory he hadn't been able to locate before, the very first hint that something had been wrong!

"Wait for what?" said Luna.

_"Because she told me to!"_ said Neville and felt like kicking himself. How could he have ignored this the first time around?

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Wait for because she told me to? That doesn't make any sense," she said, probably for the first time in her life.

"No, no - that was what you said to me back in October, when you weren't wearing -" Neville stopped, suddenly unsure on how to continue this. Seeing her curious expression, though, he took a deep breath and threw himself out into it. "Luna, I know about you and Claire Savelle!"

"Oh." Luna looked at him for a long moment. Then, she sighed and rolled her magazine up to a thin cylinder, sliding it down the front of her robe. "All right," she said in a resigned voice. "So how many times do you want to fuck me? I'm not really used to doing it with boys, you know, but if we get in some practice I could probably get quite good at -"

Neville sputtered. _"What are you talking about?__"_ He tried to say it as a whisper and a shout at the same time, resulting in a low-pitched squeal that sounded a lot like Crookshanks that time Neville had accidentally trodden on his tail.

"Well," said Luna, as if it was self-evident, "isn't that how these things go? You know an embarrassing secret about me, and now you want to fuck me in exchange for you not telling anybody."

"Luna...! That's not...!" Neville had to sit down and take a few deep breaths before he could continue. "Luna, I'm not going to blackmail you into -" _(Don't blush!)_ " - into doing _that _with me!"

"Oh," said Luna, sounding surprised. "Why not?"

"Because only a horrible, horrible person would even _consider _doing anything like that!"

"Oh."

"Yes!"

"You don't even want me to suck your -"

_"NO!" (DON'T BLUSH! DON'T BLUSH!)_

"That's probably a good thing then. I've never done that before either. Maybe I would have done it wrong." There was obvious relief on Luna's face as she said this.

It was a good thing there were never that many people in the Great Hall at this time of day. If any of Neville's friends had been present then, they might have grown concerned and came over to them to see what was wrong. As it was, the few who were there to see Neville repeatedly beat his head against the table merely assumed he was doing some sort of reprise of his dinner stunt with the mashed potatoes, and went on with their own activities.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Luna finally asked.

Neville raised his head and groaned. "Luna," he said. "Why did you think I would come here to blackmail you?"

"Well," said Luna in a matter-of-fact tone, "Sex between students is illegal on school grounds, you know, so I wouldn't like for any teachers to find out."

"But -" Neville opened and closed his mouth a few times.

"Oh, I didn't really think _you_ were the blackmailing sort!" said Luna, as if suddenly afraid she had hurt his feelings. "At least, I never thought it before, and I'm really glad you're not, because you always seemed like such a nice person, but I was so surprised when you told me you knew about Claire and me! She'd told me that if any boys found out about us, they would blackmail me, so if I agreed that I mustn't tell anyone unless I really wanted to have sex with them as well." She paused. "I mean, _fuck _them. She told me to use the word _'fuck.'"_

"And - and you believed her?" said Neville, desperately trying to ignore the casual use of the word '_fuck' _and wondering in the back of his mind how gullible (or how distrustful of boys) a person could be.

"She sounded very certain when she said it," said Luna.

Neville opened his mouth again to answer that, but then thought better of it. Instead, he decided to bring the conversation to the topic he had originally planned before the conversation had got away from him. "I promise I won't tell anyone, or blackmail you," he said. "But I do have some rather bad news to tell you, about Claire. I didn't want to get involved or anything, but just now I, I saw her and Marietta Edgecombe - er - I saw them -"

"Oh, yes, they were going off to snog," said Luna calmly. "That's supposed to be a secret as well, but since you already knew -"

"Wait," said Neville, desperately trying to keep up. This wasn't going anything like he'd imagined. "You know? And you're not angry about it?"

"No." She gave him an odd look. "Why would I be? Claire and Marietta have been girlfriends for almost three weeks now. They're always off somewhere and kissing. Sometimes they even do it in my bed, which I don't think is very nice of them at all, because then it always takes _ages _before I can go to bed, and I end up having to sleep in a chair in the common room."

"...Marietta is Claire's girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"But... I thought _you _and Claire were - I mean -"

"Oh, I'm not her girlfriend. I'm just her naughty little slut."

"You're her _WHAT?"_

"Naughty - little - slut," Luna repeated slowly, as if to make sure he got it this time. "She calls me that, you know. When she grabs me and touches me in all the nice places and my body goes all tingly and then -"

_(DON'T BLUSH!)_ "Yes, thank you, I get it!" Neville glanced around to see if any other people had heard this tirade. Nobody were staring, at least, so they were probably safe for now, but if she was going to continue talking like that, it was only a matter of time before... "Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else?" he suggested.

"Claire told me I shouldn't go anywhere." said Luna.

"Well, why do you have to listen to Claire?" said Neville.

"Because I'm her naughty little slut, and naughty little sluts do as they're told," said Luna. "Are you going to start hitting your head on the table again?" she added, looking at him with some concern.

"No," Neville lied, straightening himself. "Luna, you're not just a -" _(Don't blush!)_ " - naughty little slut! And I don't think Claire has any right to treat you like one, and if she tells you to do something you don't want to do, then you shouldn't do it, no matter what she calls you!" And then, remembering something Harry had said to him during their first year, he added: "You're worth _twelve_ of her!"

"Oh? Why?" Luna got a vaguely interested look on her face.

Neville almost sighed. The _'you're-worth-twelve-of-that-__jerk__'_ argument had seemed so much more convincing when it had been Harry who said it. He decided to take another line of Harry's, from much more recently: "Well, _she _wasn't in the Department of Mysteries, was she? _She _didn't fight Death Eaters and tell the world about You-Know-Who. _You _did. You're practically a hero, you know!"

Luna seemed to think about it. "I'm a hero?"

"You are!"

"All right, then." She smiled then; the first smile he had seen from her in ages. "We can talk in the Room of Requirement. Claire is going to want to punish me, but if I'm a hero I should be able to take it."

He didn't know what to answer to that.

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> I've wavered back and forth for a long time on whether I should publish this story on this site or not; it's very different from all my other fanfics and contains several themes I normally don't write about. However, since earlier drafts of the story has been up other places on the 'net, and there were parts of it I wasn't perfectly happy with even after the first revision, I finally decided to do a third draft where I fixed all those little nagging annoyances, and I would post them here.

There are seven chapters to this fic, and since I'm halfway through the revisions already, I'll try to post at least one per week. Meaning that, unless I'm hindered from working on the revisions (you never know), you can expect having the whole story by the end of February, 2012.

Next chapter we'll get the story behind Luna and Claire's relationship...


	2. The Story of the Wand and the Carrot

_Happy new year! We're back with the second chapter of this story, and once again I'm going to have to warn you for femmeslash, and not (to say the least) of a particularly romantic kind._

_In this chapter, Luna gets to tell her story, and proves that she's not at all shy about sharing intimate details of her personal life, if people just ask._

* * *

><p><strong>BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO<strong>

**Based on the _Harry Potter_ books by J. K. Rowling.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER TWO:<br>The Story Of The Wand And The Carrot**

* * *

><p>Upon entering the Room of Requirement, they found that it had shaped itself as a small, cosy room not unlike the one Neville had found last time he'd been here; the only real difference was that instead of one chair, there were two, one on each side of the small table - and, oddly enough, upon the table stood two large mugs.<p>

Luna walked up to the table and picked up one of the mugs. "Oh," she said, turning it upside-down. "Empty. I was hoping for some tea, but maybe the Room can't make food or drink."

"It doesn't seem like it," said Neville, and wondered whether this was because food was too hard to conjure up magically, or simply because whoever had created it had been afraid that students would discover the room and use it to get free beer or Firewhisky. "We could perhaps call up a House-Elf from the kitchen, or -"

Luna shook her head and flopped down into one of the chairs. "No, thank you. They don't have Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans in the kitchen, anyway, and I used up the last of mine the last time I had a cup of tea."

"You take Every-Flavour Beans in your tea?" said Neville.

She nodded. "I have to stir a long time before they melt, but I like it. That way, the tea tastes differently from time to time, you know. Last time, I had pistachio nut, fudge, floorwax and brussel-sprout."

"That... doesn't sound very good," said Neville carefully.

"It wasn't," Luna agreed, "but I always thought the yucky-flavoured Beans must feel sad because nobody ever wants to eat them. The least I can do is take them in my tea."

"...why do you keep _acting _like this?" Neville hadn't meant to say it, but it just burst out of him.

"Like what?" Luna looked at him, obviously not understanding.

"Well like_ that!"_ Neville couldn't stop himself, the words escaped his mouth without bothering to stop by his brain for clearance first. "I just don't _get _you! You say things that don't make any sense, and you go off and have sex with another girl just because she tells you you're a naughty slut, and you keep talking about these strange creatures that nobody's ever heard of, and now you're worried about hurting the feelings of floorwax-flavoured Bertie Bott's -" He finally managed to stop himself, because Luna's large eyes were filling up with tears as his unforeseen tirade went on, and Neville immediately felt like the world's biggest git. "Oh no - that came out wrong - I didn't mean - don't cry!"

But Luna's voice was trembling as she spoke: "You're not that much better, you know. You always go around tripping and breaking things, looking like you're afraid of your own shadow when everybody knows that shadows haven't been dangerous since the Shadow-corrupting Crackles were extinct over fifty - years - ago!" The last part of the sentence almost drowned in a series of sobs.

He didn't know whether to laugh, or cry, or both. In the end, he did neither. Instead, he sank down next to her, sitting down on the (surprisingly comfortable) armrest and murmuring: "I - I know. I shouldn't have said - I'm sorry. Please stop crying?"

She continued sobbing anyway, curling up into a little ball in her chair. Feeling like the world's worst person, Neville swallowed and fought with his own tears. "I'm really, really sorry," he repeated, and he heard how thick his voice sounded. "I don't even know why I said that. But - you've always been so, so _above _it all, like you don't care what other people think of you... I kind of admire that, actually... "

Luna sniffled and looked up at him with a tear-streaked face. She said nothing, just blinked a few times, her body shaking with repressed sobs.

After some moments of hesitation, Neville did the only thing he could think of: he reached out and tentatively began to stroke her unkempt, sandy-blonde hair.

She let him do it. After a few seconds, she relaxed against his hand, calming down and letting her body go slack in the chair. She sniffled a few times, blinking away her tears and tried to smile at him.

"I - I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," said Neville, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"I didn't mean to hurt yours either," Luna sniffled, her voice slightly cracked from the crying.

"You didn't," he lied. "But look, this isn't what we came here to talk about, is it?"

"No." Luna sat up straighter in the chair, wiping her eyes with her sleeve and moving her head away from his hand. "You wanted to know about Claire and me, didn't you?"

Neville nodded. "I realise it's not really my business, but I've seen you with her, and, you know, you never smile anymore. I haven't heard you laugh since - I don't know when. I'm just worried about you."

Luna paused. "You're... worried about me?" she finally said.

"Yeah."

"Nobody's ever worried about me."

"Well, I am. We're friends, aren't we?"

She sniffled one last time, and then she did smile, a proper smile this time. "Yes! We're friends!" she nodded, and then a slight giggle escaped her. "I like the way that sentence feels. _We're friends. _Can I hug you?"

"Er, what?" said Neville, not having expected this.

"Friends can hug friends, can't they?" There was a slight anxiousness in Luna's voice, as if she was worried she might have got this part wrong.

"I - I think so." Neville had never been hugged by any of his friends (he couldn't even remember the last time he had been hugged by anyone, friends _or _family), but he knew that Lavender and Parvati hugged each other a lot, and he'd seen Hermione hug both Harry and Ron, so he supposed that -

And then he stopped thinking about it, because she'd shifted and sat up on her knees to wrap her arms around him. It was an awkward position for hugging; she had to twist around in the deep chair and arch her back to press herself against him, and he had to struggle in order to not fall off the armrest and on top of her, and it was a little uncomfortable twisting around to respond to the hug and he had no idea where to put his hands - and yet, Neville thought, it felt wonderful. She was surprisingly soft and warm, her breath was quiet and gentle, her scraggly hair was tickling his cheek lightly, and her - _(don't blush!)_ - breasts were pressing against him.

"This is nice," she murmured, rubbing her cheek against him and causing her hair to tickle him again. _"You're _nice. I'm glad we're friends."

Neville suddenly felt very sorry for her. How lonely she must be; an outsider in her own House, mocked and ridiculed. Of course, Neville wasn't very popular himself, and he knew all too well what it felt like to be the target of mockery and ridicule, but at least he knew he _had _friends. The other Gryffindors were, on the whole, kind to him. Who in Ravenclaw was kind to Luna? It was all too easy to imagine how she might encounter someone like Claire Savelle and simply take all kinds of horrid treatment because it was the closest thing she had to genuine love and affection...

"Luna," he finally said. "I really am worried about you. I don't think that Claire Savelle is good for you."

She sighed heavily, letting go of him and sinking back down into the chair. "No, I suppose she isn't."

"So why do you even do as she says? She's horrid!"

"Yes," Luna agreed, "but I do love the sex..." She sighed again and then turned her head to look at him. "Do you remember how I warned you about an outbreak of Wrackspurts a few weeks ago?"

"Er - no," Neville admitted. "But, but I tend to forget things."

"Oh." She sounded a little disappointed. "Well, you see, I thought there must be an outbreak of Wrackspurts because my mind went all strange when I was close to Claire."

"...Strange?"

She nodded. "The way she touches me... I just _want _it. When I see her, I _want _her to grab me and touch me and make me feel all nice. If it takes a few days and she doesn't, my entire body just sort of aches for it, and I can't sleep properly at night, and I try to masturbate, but that's just not the same..." she frowned, looking thoughtful. "I wonder why not? I don't think I do anything differently, but it just feels better when Claire masturbates me. You'd think that I would know my own cunt better than she does, wouldn't you? What do you think?"

Neville was utterly lost. If anyone had told him that morning that he would be discussing masturbation techniques with Luna Lovegood today, he wouldn't have believed a word of it. He wasn't even certain he believed it _now._ "I really don't know..." he murmured. "M-maybe it's not Wrackspurts, maybe it's - a spell of some sort. Or a love potion? Do you feel, er, infatuated with her?"

"Oh no," Luna shook her head. "I don't even _like _her all that much." She paused. "My body likes her though, especially my cunt. My cunt likes her a lot. That's the problem, really."

"Er, Luna... could you please not swear so much?" Neville pleaded. "I know we're alone, but..."

"You don't want me to say _'cunt'?_ Claire likes me to say it, but all right, if it makes you uncomfortable, I won't say it. Can I say _'pussy,' _then? Or -"

"Never mind," said Neville hurriedly. "Just - how did you get yourself into this, anyway? What happened?"

"I'll tell you about it, if you want," Luna offered. "Only -" she looked at him, suddenly looking a little shy. "Would you mind terribly... stroking my hair a little more? I rather liked that."

Wordlessly, he lifted his hand and ran it through her dirty-blonde hair. She relaxed again and closed her eyes, and for a moment he thought she was going to sleep, but then she began talking.

* * *

><p>It all began on a Friday, shortly after the fifth-year Ravenclaws' first Potions lesson of the year.<p>

Luna hadn't quite known what to make of the new Potions teacher, Horace Slughorn, but he hadn't taken a single point off Ravenclaw for anything she had said all class, and he hadn't referred to any of the students as "dunderheads," so that definitely counted in his favour.

At dinner, she had been eating in silence, thinking about the new Professor and whether it would be worth asking him if powdered Snorkack horn had any use in any potion, or if he would just get angry at her for being "cheeky" and asking "moronic questions" like Professor Snape always did. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hardly noticed it when the wand she had put behind her ear for safekeeping was suddenly yanked away from her.

She was vaguely aware that it wasn't there anymore, but she had to finish her thought before she could check. And just as she lifted her hand to see if the wand was really gone or if it was just her mind playing tricks on her, someone shoved something else behind her ear. It was vaguely wand-shaped, she supposed, but thicker, and... pointier?

Curiously, she took it in her hand and held it up to see a large carrot.

She looked at it in amazement, and for a moment she wondered if this was the work of some rogue Nargles or some similar invisible beast that was protesting the Ministry laws that said that only humans were allowed to carry wands - but then she saw seventh-year Claire Savelle sitting right next to her, holding the wand up tauntingly.

"Constant vigilance, Loony!" she said, imitating the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher from two years ago.

Oh, so it was just another prank, then, Luna noted with some disappointment. She had been the victim of far too many Ravenclaw pranks to count, and was more or less used to them by now - being an outsider in your own House meant that you were also the one everyone could bully with no fear of retribution. This was the first time any of these pranks had come from Claire Savelle, though - Claire was two years older than Luna and one of those bookish, hardworking Ravenclaws who normally considered it to be far below her dignity to even notice people like "Loony Lovegood."

But whatever had got into Claire's head now, Luna really didn't want to be parted from her wand. "May I have my wand back, please?" she said, holding out her carrot in case the older girl was willing to accept a trade.

"I don't know..." Claire toyed with the wand. "Maybe I should just let you keep the carrot."

"But I really do need my wand," said Luna. "I can't cast any spells with a carrot, you know. I've tried before, but carrots are too unmagical."

"Oh, but this is a special carrot," said Claire. "It's a Crumple-Horned Snorcarrot! You can power it up by keeping it behind your ear!"

The students close enough to hear the conversation laughed just as much at Luna's plea as Claire's comeback, but Luna ignored them. "I don't think that's true," she said.

"It's a miracle!" said Michael Corner, who was sitting close by and waving his fork around dramatically. "Loony Lovegood doesn't think something is true! Call the _Daily Prophet!"_

"Call _The Quibbler,"_ snickered Michael's classmate, Stephen Cornfoot. "They're the only ones who would print such an insane story!"

A few more Ravenclaws laughed at this; quite a few of them were watching the "show" with amused expressions, none of them looking like they'd be willing to lift a finger to help Luna.

"May I have my wand back, please?" Luna repeated, looking at Claire.

"Oh, but then you'll have both the wand and the Snorcarrot, and then you'll be so powerful that I'll be too afraid of you," said Claire, shaking in mock-fear and clearly enjoying the attention she was getting from the other Ravenclaws.

"I promise I won't hex you," said Luna. "May I have it back, please?"

"All right, here you are," said Claire, holding the wand out to Luna, only to yank it away when the younger girl made a grab for it.

"I'm just joking," she said over the laughter of the other students and held the wand out again. "Here." And once again, to more laughter, she yanked it away just as Luna made a move to take it.

_"Is there a problem here?"_ came a sudden strict voice from behind.

Luna turned to see Professor McGonagall stand behind her, with an unmistakable expression of stern disapproval. The other students stopped laughing at once and suddenly became extremely interested in their dinner plates. Professor McGonagall was not one to cross.

"Oh... no, Professor," said Claire, shoving the wand into Luna's hand. "No problem at all!"

"In that case, may I remind you that this is a dinner table and not an amusement show," said McGonagall. "And stealing another student's wand is a serious offense that should not be joked about in this manner. Ten points from Ravenclaw, and if you lot can't behave yourself in a way becoming of Hogwarts students for the future, I will take ten more. Is that clear?"

Various murmurs of _"yes, Professor"_ followed, and Luna took the opportunity to put the wand in her robe pocket, feeling that it might not be such a good idea to keep it behind her ear right now.

McGonagall gave everyone another stern look, lingering on Claire a little longer than the rest, before turning and walking back to the High Table.

Luna looked at the carrot still in her hand, and after a moment's pause pocketed that as well. Maybe she could place it on her nightstand tonight as an offering to the Nargles - perhaps a gift would appease them and make them stop stealing things.

Claire turned to Luna again and lowered her voice. "Well," she said with a slightly unsettling smile, "I suppose that concludes our dinner entertainment. "We'll just have to make up for it with some entertainment before bedtime, won't we? When there are no teachers around to spoil our fun?"

Luna wasn't at all sure that she liked the sound of that, despite the suddenly friendly tone and promises of fun. For a moment, she wondered if she should tell one of the teachers about this, but she was fairly certain that Claire's idea of fun would be "unbecoming of a Hogwarts student," and cost the House ten more points if Professor McGonagall found out. And then it would be Luna's fault.

It wasn't that she was particularly afraid. The other Ravenclaws' pranks and ideas of "entertainment" were generally harmless enough, which was why she tolerated them - but it didn't mean she liked it. And she really didn't feel like being a prank victim today.

So, some hours later, after supper when all students were to return to their respective common rooms and spend the remaining hours before bed there, Luna made sure to linger behind the others as they exited the Great Hall, and then, when nobody was looking, quickly and silently head another way.

Hogwarts was a large castle and had many rooms, so it was easy to find an unguarded room to stay in for a little while. Luna chose an empty classroom on the ground floor, one that by the look of it hadn't been in use for years. This would be a good place to hide for a while, she thought as she crawled in under the teacher's desk and lay down on the floor. Now no-one would see her, even if they for some reason should look in through the door or windows.

It wasn't the most comfortable of hiding places, true, but at least she had room to stretch out. She could stay here all night, or at least until she was certain everyone else had gone to bed. She rolled over on her side, rested her head on her arm, and wondered whether spending time under a teacher's desk would make her smarter. It made sense; if the teacher spent much time by the desk, teaching and talking about a subject, the desk might absorb the knowledge, which in turn might seep into Luna as she lay underneath it.

Of course, she thought, it would probably depend on which teacher had used this desk last, or when this room had been in use. If, for example, Professor Flitwick had been using this classroom, maybe Luna would become an expert at Charms. On the other hand, maybe this classroom had been used by a Professor that had retired long before Luna had come to Hogwarts, who had taught about the many uses of ogre dung or something, and that couldn't be a very useful thing to be an expert on...

She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew it was dark around her, her muscles ached from lying on a hard floor for so long, and her mind swirled the way it always did when she woke up after a dream she couldn't remember. She also felt a pressing need to go to the loo.

Not quite sure what time it was, but not quite awake enough to care, she got up and stumbled out of the classroom. The corridor outside was dark and silent, quite unlike the bright and busy place it was during the daytime, and the pale moonlight shining in through the window on the far end gave Luna's sleepy mind the rather interesting feeling of walking through a silvery dreamscape.

It was very pretty. A little eerie, but pretty; an effect that was further aided by the two silverly-white figures that came towards her, gliding soundlessly through the air.

In the midst of a yawn, Luna recognized the Grey Lady and the Fat Friar, the House ghosts for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Well, what have we here?" said the Friar, obviously trying (and failing) to sound stern . "A student? You're supposed to be in bed by this time, aren't you? It's long past midnight, young lady!"

"Oh, it's Luna Lovegood," said the Grey Lady in a whisper. "She's in my House." Luna felt a curious chill as the ghostly hand tried to stroke her cheek and went right through it instead. "She's sleepwalking again, the poor girl. She used to do it a lot when she was younger."

Sleepwalking... Luna vaguely remembered having done that when she was younger. It had been after her mother died, and she often had troubled dreams, after which she'd wake up in a different location than where she'd gone to sleep, with no idea how she'd got there. The dreams had been rather frequent in her first year at Hogwarts, and her sleepwalking had certainly not done anything to lessen her reputation of being an oddball - but by her third year she had grown out of it, and ever since then she'd slept quite soundly at night.

"Oh, dear," said the Friar. "Should we wake her?"

"You never wake a sleepwalker," the Lady scolded.

"I'm awake, you know," Luna informed them. It wouldn't do at all to lie to the two ghosts; Luna had always prided herself on being an honest person. "I just want the restroom... But it seems to have vanished..." She could have sworn there was a restroom in this corridor, but she couldn't see it anywhere.

"Of course, my dear," said the Friar with a smile. "Why don't we escort you back to your common room? Mr. Filch will probably be making his rounds in a short while, and he won't be pleased to find students wandering around here on the ground floor at this time. Even if they are sleepwalking."

"Restroom," Luna insisted, blinking sleepily and trying to figure out why they still thought she was sleepwalking.

"Of course," said the Grey Lady, "but afterwards you're going straight back to your bed."

Luna gave up trying to explain anything, and let the ghosts lead her towards the restroom - and she found it very considerate how the Friar stayed outside while the Lady came in with her to make sure she actually got to the toilet - and then up to the Ravenclaw common room.

Climbing all the staircases up to the sixth floor cleared Luna's mind up a bit; it was impossible to stay sleepy in a Hogwarts staircase with all its oddities and quirks. She was feeling quite awake as she climbed the tightly winding spiral staircase from the fifth floor and came to stand in front of the eagle-shaped bronze knocker that signaled the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room.

After assuring the two ghosts that she was perfectly awake now, thank you, and that they didn't need to stick around to help her find the answer to the question that the eagle would ask before letting her in, she reached out and knocked once.

The eagle opened its beak and said, in its usual musical voice (though there was more than a hint of drowsiness there as well, as if Luna had woken it up): "What is the sweetest thing of all?"

Luna thought for a moment, but the answer was fairly obvious from the circumstances. "I think it's sleep," she said. "Because sleep brings relief from all pain and concerns."

"Good enough," said the eagle sleepily, and the door swung open, revealing the midnight-blueness of the Ravenclaw common room.

The room was as silent as the rest of the castle, although nowhere near as dark: the moon shone through the gracefully-arched windows, mixing its light with that of the painted stars on the ceiling, and even the marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw seemed to glow white, there she stood on her niche in the wall, her stern-but-beautiful face staring blindly at Luna as she entered.

Everyone must have gone to bed, Luna thought with some relief. Often on Friday nights, students stayed up to talk (or read) half the night, but luckily for her, that hadn't been the case tonight. Well, her plan had worked, then... she smiled and moved towards the staircase that led to her dormitory.

"Hello, Loony."

She started. For a fleeting second, she thought the words must have come from Rowena Ravenclaw, and wondered where the statue had learned to talk and why her House founder would use the "Loony" nickname, but then she realised that the voice had come from behind her.

Sitting in one of the chairs, in her nightgown and with a woolen blanket draped over her, was Claire Savelle.

"I thought you'd show up if I just waited long enough," she said.

"Oh," said Luna. There wasn't much else to say, after all - her plan hadn't worked, and now there was nothing left for her to do but resign herself to whatever the older girl had in store for her.

"We missed you terribly after supper," Claire continued. "It's not nice to run away from your House-mates like that! Didn't your Mummy ever teach you that before she went and blew herself to bits?"

Luna shook her head, not bothering to point out that her mother hadn't been blown to bits at all - her body had still been in one piece, after all, when that failed experiment killed her - because she was fairly certain Claire was just putting it that way to be hurtful.

"No, I suppose not." Claire raised herself from the chair. The blanket slid off her and fell to the floor, and she stepped over it walking on soft bare feet over to Luna."You're really something, Loony. Anyone else who had just heard their mother's death mocked like that, they'd get upset. Angry. You, on the other hand, don't even react. Didn't you love your mother?"

"Yes, I did," said Luna, and then tuned Claire's reply out, the way she always tuned people out when they were talking about things that didn't interest her. Even though not a day went by without Luna thinking about and missing her mother, sometimes even crying a little, words were just words. Nothing anyone said could make her mother any more or less dead.

So she ignored Claire and instead lifted her head to look at her namesake, the moon, through the window; a serene and beautiful waning crescent in the sky. She had always loved the moon, in all its phases, even though many people didn't seem to bother with it when it wasn't full - because that was traditionally thought of to be its most "magical" phase. Luna wasn't at all sure she agreed; on nights like this, when more than half of the moon lay in darkness, there was a certain mystery over it that probably held a lot of secret magic.

She'd have to ask Professor Flitwick about that sometime.

She had almost forgotten that Claire was even there, when she suddenly felt a hand on her chin, forcing her head to turn, away from the moon and slightly downwards to look directly into the girl's face.

"Hello!" said Claire. "I'm talking to you!"

"I know, but I'm not listening," said Luna. She almost thought she could see the moonlight reflected in Claire's dark eyes, giving the girl a vaguely inhuman but strangely enchanting look. It looked rather nice, really.

Claire's voice sounded again, from somewhere far away or at least somewhere below those eyes. It was really quite pleasant to listen to when you just ignored what it was saying... The air seemed loaded with a kind of energy that somehow excited, relaxed and frightened Luna at the same time. She felt like shivering and yawning at the same time.

This must be what they meant when they talked about "hypnotic eyes." Maybe Claire was hypnotizing her. That would be interesting; Luna had never been hypnotized before and now she'd find out what it was like.

"I said," came Claire's voice, a little louder, "are you afraid?"

"Afraid?" said another voice that Luna suspected was her own. "No."

"Good." And then, Claire grabbed her and kissed her.

The energy in the air around them exploded, or so it seemed to Luna, and she stiffened as Claire's tongue entered her mouth, which wasn't at all a proper place for anyone's tongue to be but Luna's own... but Claire was holding her in a firm grasp and pulling away didn't seem to be an option... And Luna felt herself go weak, completely overwhelmed by the energies; her stomach felt full of butterflies and her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, and Claire was kissing her and it was soft and warm and wet...

_Now I'm hypnotized,_ Luna thought dimly._ What a strange feeling. I wonder if she'll make me quack like a duck or something. _

So overwhelmed was she by this sensation that she barely noticed how Claire's hands were roaming down her body and stroking her hips through her robe. Only when the hands slipped down into Luna's pockets did she realise that something was going on, and the made a slight "mmm!" and tried to pull away.

Claire broke the kiss and stared into Luna's eyes. "You're not going to scream," she said. "You're not going to run away. You're just going to stand here like a good girl and let me do this..."

Luna could do nothing but breathe heavily after the kiss as Claire dug into her pockets. There was always a number of things in Luna's pockets, but Claire only seemed interested in one thing: With a triumphant grin, she pulled out Luna's wand. "You wouldn't let me have it at dinner, so I'm confiscating it until afterwards. Oh, and what's this?" she added, pulling out another item with an amused chuckle. "You kept the carrot as well, did you? Well, let's just take that too..."

Luna didn't really care about the carrot, but the wand was different. She needed that. "May I have my -" she began, struggling to make her voice audible.

"You're not allowed to ask questions," Claire interrupted, bopping Luna lightly on the nose with the carrot, causing her stomach to do a sort of backflip and release all kinds of tingly sensations all over her body.

"Oh," Luna gasped, mostly because it was the only thing that came to mind.

"But if you really want the carrot back, then here." Claire shoved it, pointy end first, into Luna's half-open mouth. "You can suck on it for a while, so you're not tempted to ask more questions."

"Mmm," said Luna around the carrot, not quite sure why she didn't just spit it out. But her mind was starting to feel strangely cloudy, so she had to be very deeply hypnotized indeed by now.

"Shush now," said Claire. She held Luna's wand up in front of her face, swinging it mockingly around a few times before pointing it straight at her. _"Evanesco!"_

For a moment, Luna expected herself to vanish. For another moment, she thought she _had _vanished, only to reappear in an exact duplicate of the scene she had vanished from. But then, she realised that the spell hadn't been aimed at her, but at her robes - Luna was now, quite plainly, standing there in her underclothes. The strangest part was that she was feeling hotter than before, her skin feeling like it'd burn up.

Claire grinned. "_Purple _underclothes, Loony? Purple vest, purple stockings... and purple knickers too? Tell me, is your bra purple as well?"

Luna nodded vaguely, still with the carrot in her mouth; she had been feeling in a purple mood when getting dressed that day, so she had decided to wear only purple underneath the black school robes.

"I'm doing you a favour then," said Claire. "Purple is not your colour. _Evanesco!"_

Luna's vest went the same way as her robes. She could tell by the way her Butterbeer cork necklace suddenly rested directly against her skin. She was down to her bra, knickers, the "home-knitted" (or so the shop-keeper had assured her) woollen stockings she had bought in a Muggle shop in Sweden, and her shoes.

She wanted to leave. She wanted to remove the carrot from her mouth, take her wand back and go up to her dormitory. But she stood motionless, still sucking on the carrot, waiting for Claire's next move.

"I really should be getting rid of that necklace and those earrings as well," Claire purred, leaning closer to Luna. "Or maybe those dreadful stockings. You'd thank me for it, if you had one whit of common sense. But, you know, I think we'll leave those on for now. _Evanesco!"_

There went the bra, and Luna felt her breasts bounce slightly as they were freed from their clothy prison, peeking out at their liberator as if surprised to see her.

Strangely enough, Luna seemed to just be getting hotter for each layer of clothing removed, instead of colder. If this continued, she would catch on fire by the time Claire got around to removing her knickers.

Wordlessly, Claire reached out and cupped the left breast in her hand, and small flashes of lightning shoot through Luna's body, making her gasp in surprise and almost drop the carrot.

"I am getting a rise out of you, aren't I?" said the older girl in a satisfied voice. "Let's find out how much." She trailed her hand down Luna's stomach and then down her knickers... down to that most secret of places, the place where nobody else had never touched Luna before, where nobody _should_ ever touch her...

Luna was certain she had caught on fire by now. Different emotions, quite a few of which she didn't quite understand, struggled within her; loud and demanding and hot like molten lava. It wasn't completely unlike that first time she herself had, quite by accident and while bathing, discovered how nice it felt to touch herself down there... but it felt much stronger, much more overwhelming.

_A finger was entering her..._ She heaved for her breath and bit right through the carrot, the bigger part of it falling to the floor. Her heart thundered in her chest, so loudly she couldn't believe all of Hogwarts, or at least all of Ravenclaw, didn't hear it.

Claire shook her head sternly, pulling her hand back. "Didn't I tell you to keep that in your mouth?" she scolded, but her eyes were teasing, not angry. "Ooh, but I can see why you did it. You're hornier than a bunny rabbit, girl! You're going to drench your knickers if you keep them on - _Evanesco!"_

The knickers were gone. Luna was completely bared for Claire to see, and touch, and fondle, and Luna was so hot, and her stomach so tingly, and Claire's hands were so nice, and so naughty, and someway along the line Luna must have swallowed the piece of carrot in her mouth, because her mouth was quite empty when Claire kissed her again...

And now she was on the floor, and Claire was over her, and Luna noticed vaguely how her own breath sounded curiously like a little child's, and then she stopped thinking and just did what her body told her to do, and the world was filled with things that were soft and warm and wet.

* * *

><p>She woke up to a much brighter world. The pale light of a sunny Autumn morning shining in through the windows and giving everything a cool, yet fresh glow. Luna squinted at the light for a few moments, before yawning and closing her eyes again to allow herself to drift back to sleep...<p>

_"Luna Lovegood!"_

Oh. That was her name. Someone was trying to wake her up. Luna grunted sleepily and opened her eyes again, and this time found herself looking directly at a rather red-faced Cho Chang, who was standing over her.

"Luna, what are you doing?" the seventh-year demanded.

"Until just now, I was sleeping," Luna yawned. "Is it time to get up?"

Cho seemed lost for words for a moment. Then, she sputtered: "Will you go up to your dormitory and put some clothes on immediately! You can't sleep _naked _in the common room!"

Naked? Common room? Oh...

Luna suddenly realised where she was; not in her own bed at all, but curled up in a chair in the Ravenclaw common room, underneath a woolen blanket... or rather, at least halfway underneath a woolen blanket, because it wasn't big enough to cover all of her. Well, that explained the vaguely uncomfortable sleeping position, then... and the sensation of air on her breasts. She shifted a little and discovered that aside from the blanket, she was wearing nothing apart from her Butterbeer cork necklace.

"You're just lucky I was the first one down here this morning!" Cho hissed. "Imagine if any of the boys had come down here!"

"I suppose that would have been a little inconvenient," Luna agreed.

"A little...! What were you thinking, coming down here starkers, anyw - No, on second thought, I don't want to know," said Cho. _"God,_ Luna! I know you're a loon, but there has to be limits, even for you!"

It wasn't often Cho Chang got that angry, so Luna decided not to answer anymore, but instead do as she was told. She got up from the chair and wrapped the blanket around herself before Cho ushered her up the stairs to her dormitory.

The other girls she shared a room with were all still asleep, so it had to be earlier than she'd originally thought. As Luna made her way to her own bed, she thought mournfully about her Vanished clothes, especially her robe. It had been her best one, and had had all sorts of interesting things in its pockets. The stockings had been nice and warm, and the shoes had been comfortable. And she had spent _ages _perfecting her Colour-Changing Charm to get that bra to be the exact purple colour she'd wanted...

She stopped dead in her tracks, as her jumbled memories of last night connected to one another, and it finally sank in just what she had done.

Oh. Well, this was an interesting situation.

She'd had sex for the first time in her life. And it had been with a girl. On the floor in the Ravenclaw common room. Somehow, that wasn't at all how she'd imagined her first time to be like. Well, all right, she might have occasionally fantasized about girls, but never Claire - and the common room had certainly not figured in any of her fantasies.

Still, it had made for a _memorable _first time, if nothing else. And Claire had known what she was doing, hadn't she...? Luna's body tingled slightly at the memory of the other girl's hands and tongue.

The main question was what would happen now. Did this mean that Luna and Claire were girlfriends, and if they were, would Luna be expected to be open about it or keep silent? A lot of people didn't like the idea of relationships, or sex, between two girls. (Or between two boys, for that matter, but since neither Luna nor Claire was a boy, that part didn't really concern them all that much.)

Luna stopped in front of her bed. The curtains were closed around it, which was odd, because she couldn't remember closing them before she left. Did this perhaps mean that someone else was sleeping in her bed?

She pulled the curtains aside to find that this was exactly what it meant. There was Claire, between Luna's bedcovers and sleeping soundly.

Luna hesitated. For a short moment, and without quite knowing why, she felt shy - an emotion almost completely strange to her under normal circumstances. But then, she remembered that Claire still had her wand, and the desire for her wand back was strong enough to override the shyness. She climbed into the bed and edged up to Claire, nudging her.

"Wake up," she whispered.

Claire muttered something Luna couldn't quite understand and rolled over on her side.

"Claire, can you wake up?" Luna whispered.

Slowly, Claire opened her eyes and yawned. "Close the curtains," she murmured.

"May I have my wand back, please?"

"Close the curtains, Loony."

"I don't mean to nag, you know, but you did say I could have it back after we'd -"

"Close the fucking curtains or I'll snap your fucking wand in two!" Claire hissed.

"Oh." Luna blinked. "Well, then I'd rather close the curtains, I think."

"Good."

A little awkwardly, and very confused, Luna turned around and did as Claire had demanded. When she turned around again, the older girl had sat up, the covers having slid off to reveal that she was just as naked as Luna was.

"Much better," she grinned, an oddly hungry look in her eyes as she moved closer to Luna. "Now we have some privacy, at last. Don't worry about anyone hearing us; I cast a Silencing Charm on the curtains before I went to sleep last night. No sound will emerge beyond the curtains, no matter how loud you scream."

"Scream?" said Luna, blinking.

Claire placed her arms around her neck. "You didn't scream yesterday," she said. "You moaned loudly enough, but you didn't scream... and I want to make you scream."

"But -"

"Nobody will disturb us. It's Saturday. There are no lessons, and everyone will just think you're sleeping in."

"I just wanted my - Mmmmm!" Luna hadn't intended to end the sentence that way, but it was hard to say anything else when Claire pulled her down and kissed her.

It was as though something exploded inside her, and all of a sudden, the slight tingle in her body turned into what felt like a small thunderstorm - a thunderstorm that wanted Luna to re-experience last night, right away. It was all she could do to not let it carry her away completely, and she heaved for her breath as Claire broke the kiss and pushed her down on her back.

"Don't even try to pretend!" Claire smiled wickedly as her hands began exploring Luna again, egging the thunderstorm on. "Your _cunt _is more honest than you, Loony! Look - soaking wet already!"

"Ngh," said Luna, because that was the only response she could think of. _"__Cunt__"_ wasn't her favourite word, anyway - it sounded naughty and vulgar and not at all a fitting term for what was between her legs. _"__Pussy__"_ was better, but did put her in mind of cats.

Claire laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh. "Last night was your first time, wasn't it? No, don't bother to answer that, I can tell it was. It's almost cute, really, how you could transform so quickly from a prissy little virgin to a naughty little slut."

"I - I don't - I don't think I did - _Ah!"_ said Luna.

"Naughty little slut, Loony. Say it."

"Ngh!"

"I want you to really test the Silencing Charm. I want you to scream it out."

"I just wanted my wand back!" Luna whimpered, truthful to the end.

"Oh, but you want _this _too, don't you?"

"Mmmm!"

"And _t__his?_"

"Nnnn... yes!" Luna gasped.

"Good. Then I'm going to give you your wand back straight away." The hands vanished, to Luna's disappointment, and she whimpered again in protest and frustration.

Ten seconds later, Claire was back in sight, holding up Luna's wand. "I'd planned on doing this with that carrot last night, but since you bit it in two, it was rather useless for that," she said, her wand-free hand kneading Luna's breast. "But it doesn't really matter."

"What are you going to do?"

"Give you your wand, of course," said Claire with an evil grin. "Did you know it's possible to make it... _vibrate?"_

And in the end, though it did take some time, Luna did scream.

* * *

><p>Afterwards, she had to pay a visit the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey was not at all amused with her.<p>

"I know you're at a time in your life when hormones are raging," she said in a stern voice as she handed the now-cleaned wand back to Luna, "and I know you probably weren't thinking properly at the time. But your wand is _not_ meant to be used for that purpose! It could have been dangerous!"

"I didn't mean for it to get stuck," said Luna, clutching it in her hand.

"Of course you didn't," sighed Madam Pomfrey. "Nobody ever does. Nobody ever thinks that it can accidentally go off and cause some embarrassing spell damages either, but it _can_, and on several occasions, it _has_. They never seem to cover that topic on their 'wand-safety' lectures, though, so I'll just tell you what I tell all the other girls who get over-excited: Don't go putting things in there that you can't get out again. And _especially _not your wand."

"I won't," Luna promised, giving her wand an experimental shake and marveling at the pretty sparks that shot out of its tip. Well, it might be true that it could have been dangerous to have such sparks shoot up inside her. "How do I know what I can stick in there that's sure to come out again, though?" she asked.

"If you're not sure, my girl, don't stick _anything_ in there," Madam Pomfrey answered. "Let's just hope you're the last patient that I have to treat this year for that particular problem."

Luna nodded. All in all, the situation could have been much worse. Madam Pomfrey hadn't even asked any questions, and had treated the problem with her customary discretion, so the issue with Claire had never come up. Not that Luna was _ashamed_, really, it was just... it was too hard to explain.

She thanked Madam Pomfrey for her help, and luckily she was out of the hospital wing and had made her way to the Great Hall just in time for lunch. She was really quite hungry.

Nobody tried to take her wand this time, though Claire did snigger and ask whether she'd cleaned it properly.

* * *

><p>Neville felt sick, both with Claire's actions and with himself for deep down finding them a <em>little <em>more fascinating than he perhaps should. "Luna..." he said. "You really didn't have to go into such detail."

She opened her eyes. She'd had them closed all through her story, which combined with her dreamy-sounding voice had given the impression that she was talking in her sleep. "I didn't go into detail at all, really," she said mildly. "For example, I didn't mention how Claire used her tongue to -"

"Never mind!" Neville blustered out.

"I thought you wanted to know the entire story," she said.

"Yes, but... well... never mind," he repeated.

"It was really only the start, you know," she continued. "On Sunday morning, just after breakfast, she got me up to her dormitory and stripped me naked before I could say or do anything, and suddenly I had been seduced for the third time in as many days in a row. You'd think I'd get tired of it, wouldn't you? But I didn't. Every time she grabbed me, I _wanted _her..."

Neville bit his lip. It hurt, but it did have the effect he was hoping for; it stopped his mind from going totally inappropriate places and was far less obvious than a slap to the face. "Didn't you ever worry that someone would notice?" he said.

"Someone did notice, didn't they?" said Luna, looking at him. "You noticed."

"Only - only by accident, really..." he muttered.

Luna nodded. "I'm glad it was you and not for example Professor Snape," she said. "He would have seen us expelled for it."

The thought had struck Neville as well. He took a deep breath. "Luna - as your friend, I think you should stop seeing Claire. Like you said, you might get expelled if you keep this up... and besides, she treats you terribly!"

To his surprise, Luna pouted. "But I would miss all the sex."

"She - Claire's not worth getting expelled over! You deserve better than her," said Neville, and wasn't at all surprised to discover how strongly he meant it. "And, and you know something else? I think you should go to Madam Pomfrey and get yourself checked for curses or charms or... something. This, this can't be normal!"

"No, I imagine that most girls would rather fuck _boys_," said Luna. "I wouldn't know, of course, I haven't tried that, but I have wondered about -"

"I didn't mean that...! What I mean is that it's not normal to be so, er, completely addicted to someone that you agree to everything they say... At least I don't think it is. You already said you didn't like Claire."

"No, but I like it when she fucks me."

"Couldn't you -" Neville searched for the words. "Couldn't you get another girlfriend? Or boyfriend? Er, I mean, you do really like girls that way, don't you? It's not just Claire, I mean? You really do... you know... get attracted to girls?"

"Well... I think I do," said Luna. "I know I fantasized about Ginny once while masturbating. Does that count?"

"Yes!" said Neville, not at all sure it really did (and definitely not sure that Ginny would appreciate knowing that Luna had fantasized about her), but determined to say whatever it took for Luna to agree to get Madam Pomfrey to examine her.

"But Ginny doesn't want me," said Luna. "She has Dean Thomas. And she's still in love with Harry, too. And I don't think I _really _want her, either. She's very nice, and very pretty, and I liked thinking about her that one time, but I'm not in love with her either."

"It doesn't have to be her! It can be anyone!"

"But nobody wants me." There was no sadness in Luna's voice as she said this; it was a statement of fact. "I didn't even have any friends before my fourth year. Not that I really minded, you know, but it _was _much nicer with the DA and all. I'm rotten at making friends, and I'm probably not much better at making girlfriends..." She paused, and then looked at Neville. "But you're wrong, you know."

Neville blinked. "I am? About what?"

"That I don't care what other people think of me," said Luna, as if this should be obvious. "I _do _care what my _friends _think." She looked solemn. "And if you really think I should go see Madam Pomfrey, I will."

Neville smiled in relief.

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> I'm aware that I'm not painting the Ravenclaws in a very sympathetic light here, but keep in mind that they're presented from Luna's point of view here, and Luna is an outsider in her own House. There are probably plenty of perfectly decent Ravenclaws there who would be quite friendly to Luna if they got to know her. But Luna is an extremely odd person, and I imagine that to the brainy sort like most Ravenclaws seem to be, she must be extremely frustrating because she doesn't make any sense. So the Ravenclaws mainly leave the girl alone - and the ones who _don't _are the bullies who pick on her.

The "wand" scene was suggested by Sarah Coldheart, who pointed out that considering that not all girls at Hogwarts have boyfriends, there _must _have been a few young witches who got the "bright" idea of using their wands in that way, over the years. Not everyone has heard Mad-Eye Moody's horror story of wizards losing their buttocks, after all.

Oh, and for all the Americans out there: You might have been a little confused by Luna wearing a vest underneath her robes, maybe written it off as part of her oddball nature, but a "vest" is, in fact, what the British call an "undershirt." Just so you know.


	3. Sensualis

_And here's the third chapter of the story! Once again, a warning for mature themes and sexual magic.  
><em>

_In this chapter, more canon events are eluded to, Neville enlists more help, and Luna has her first encounter with real sexual magic and discovers that things sometimes get worse before they get better._

* * *

><p><strong>BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO<strong>

**Based on the _Harry Potter_ books by J. K. Rowling.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER THREE:<strong>_**  
>Sensualis<strong>_

* * *

><p>Despite what Luna had promised, it did take a couple of days before she went up to see Madam Pomfrey - and remembering the look on her face when she said she'd miss all the sex, Neville wasn't completely sure she hadn't gone off to be seduced by Claire one last time before fulfilling her promise.<p>

Still, two days later, shortly before dinner, she approached him with the news that now she'd finally been to the hospital wing and asked Madam Pomfrey to check her for hexes, jinxes or curses.

"But she didn't find any," she said solemnly. "She examined me thoroughly, and couldn't find anything. It's sort of disappointing, really. I had almost wished it _was _some kind of magic, but now I don't have any excuses."

"Excuses for what?" Neville asked.

"For going off and fuck - I mean _doing things_ with someone I don't even like," said Luna, who on Neville's request was making a conscious effort to watch her language a little more - just in case someone was to overhear them. "There's something clean and uncomplicated about magic, you know. When you're cursed or charmed into acting a certain way, you at least know why you did it and that it wasn't your fault. Now I don't know anything. It should be easy to say no to Claire, but... It just isn't."

Neville didn't have an answer for that.

However, he thought, something had to be done about the situation. This relationship, or whatever it was, with Claire couldn't be good for Luna. And besides, they could be discovered by a teacher or someone else less forgiving than Neville. But, though Luna had promised to at least try to resist Claire's lure from now on, he had some doubts about her actual ability to do so.

He spent the next few days thinking about this, and admittedly his schoolwork suffered a little for it (apart from Herbology, which was the one subject he could do well without actually thinking of it), but it wasn't until the day of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin he actually came up with an idea; an idea so simple that he could have kicked himself for not coming up with it before.

Shortly before the match, Neville sought up Seamus Finnigan, who was sitting by himself in their dormitory.

Seamus had been acting a little grouchy as of late, and it all had to do with not being chosen for the Quidditch team. Harry Potter, who was the captain of the team, had (after a period of wavering in the hopes that she would recover) decided to find a replacement for Katie Bell, who still wasn't out of St. Mungo's. The choice had fallen on Dean Thomas, and this had unfortunately a little rift in the friendship between Dean and Seamus, who had also wanted to be on the team. Neville was sorry for that, of course; if there was one thing he hated, it was to see good friends quarrel like that. But since Seamus wasn't going to be playing Quidditch...

"Hi, Seamus," he said, walking up to him. "Aren't you going to the match?"

Seamus shrugged. "I suppose." He turned to face Neville, a clear look of annoyance on his face. "Look, if you're here to dig into me for not being perfectly supportive of Potter and Thomas, you can lay off. I'm sick and tired of people telling me how childish -"

"No, no, no!" said Neville, frantically waving his hands. "Nothing like that! Nothing like that at all! I was just wondering if you could help me with something!"

Seamus quirked a brow. "What?"

"You know Luna Lovegood, right?" Neville continued.

Seamus nodded slowly. "She's the dotty one, right?" he said. "From the DA? Long blonde hair, huge eyes, nice tits, keeps her wand behind her ear? Always going on about conspiracies and other things you'd have to be insane to believe?"

"That's her," Neville sighed, deciding to ignore the part about the tits and the insanity. "Look, it was a coincidence that I found out, really, but I noticed that the other Ravenclaws aren't really treating her well. They call her 'Loony Lovegood' and steal her things and - and such. Just to give her a hard time."

Seamus wrinkled his nose. "So much for House unity. Kinda makes you appreciate being in Gryffindor, doesn't it?"

"Well," said Neville. "The thing is, I know the DA was disbanded and all, but Luna's been a good friend and a good ally, you know, against Umbridge and all that. She was the one who got that interview with Harry published in _The Quibbler,_ and she was with us in the Department of Mysteries, and - I just don't think it's right, the way they treat her."

"And now you wanna play her knight in shining armour, eh?" said Seamus, the hint of a grin playing around his lips. "Don't tell me you're _fancying _her? Didn't think she was your type, Neville. Too, well, too _loony."_

"I don't fancy her and I'm not a knight in shining armour, I just don't think it's right!" said Neville, silently thankful that he had got so much training in not blushing lately. "I know what it's like to be - to have people make fun of you and shun you and things like that. And I just thought that if I could get a few people from the DA to, you know, keep an eye on her and the other Ravenclaws, maybe we could make things a little easier on her."

"Why not just tell a teacher?" said Seamus, although Neville could tell he was getting interested.

"Because then the people who bully her would take their punishment and then just take it out even worse on her," said Neville, who had the answer ready. "C'mon, Seamus... you don't have to do much. Just, if you see anyone picking on Luna, or anything like that, try to help stop it?"

"All right, you talked me into it," said Seamus. "I'll keep an eye open when I can. How many else've you got?"

"None yet, you're the first," said Neville. "Thank you, Seamus. This really means a lot."

Seamus shrugged and pretended to look nonchalant, but Neville could tell he was really pleased about having been the 'first.'

And so, it was with considerably higher spirits Neville went down to the Quidditch pitch together with his new ally to watch the game. Things got even better when Gryffindor absolutely _flattened _Slytherin in the match, and Dean and Seamus were suddenly the best of mates again.

But what really made the day was the sight of Luna, sitting there on the stands, wearing her trademark lion hat and looking quite cheerful. Neville didn't get to speak to her much, since the match was very much a usual semi-chaotic Hogwarts Quidditch match with all attention on the players - but a few times their eyes met, and they smiled to each other.

Perhaps this wasn't going to be so hard after all.

* * *

><p>Luna took the long way back to the castle after the Quidditch match, mainly because she wanted to stop by the patch of trees on the other side of the Quidditch pitch. This was one of her favourite spots on the entire Hogwarts grounds, and she had spent many an afternoon here in quiet solitude, with no other company than the trees and the various interesting creatures that lived in them.<p>

Of course, now the trees were almost bare, and most of the creatures were already hibernating, but Luna wanted to stop by and see if they were all right anyway. She imagined that if she was ever to sleep for several months, she would have liked to know that someone was thinking about her while she slept.

As she skipped along towards the trees, she hummed that old Quidditch favourite, _Weasley Is Our King,_ her lion hat singing along with her:

_"Weasley can save anything,  
>He never leaves a single ring,<br>That's why lion hats all sing:  
>Weasley is our King!"<em>

Her newest Charms experiment had worked like a, well, a charm: in addition to its life-like roar, the hat could now also sing - just like the Sorting Hat, only with a more limited repertoire. Ronald had seemed quite pleased when he had heard that, just as she had hoped he would.

It felt good to do nice things for others sometimes, Luna thought as she reached the trees, pondering if she should do something nice for Neville next. He'd been so kind to her lately. Now, what could she do for him that he might -?

She was quite literally pulled out of her thought process by a pair of unexpected hands that grabbed her by the arms and yanked her in between the trees.

_"Weasley is our King,"_ sang the lion's head as Luna struggled to keep her balance and found herself drawn up against someone else, someone she couldn't see because the hat had fallen down and was covering her eyes, and her arms were held in firm grips so she couldn't reach up and remove it.

"Loony, will you get that lion to shut the fuck up?" a voice hissed in her ear.

Luna moved her head around, trying and failing to get the hat out of her eyes without actually using her hands. "Oh, hello, Claire."

"Don't you _'hello, Claire'_ me!" said Claire, ripping the hat off Luna's head and forcibly turning her around so they faced each other. "Didn't I tell you that I didn't want to see you anywhere near the Quidditch pitch today? It was supposed to be your punishment for not obeying me earlier this week. I distinctly told you to stay in bed, naked, until I came to get you. And yet, I find you there on the stands, fully dressed, and singing that stupid song. What have you got to say for yourself?"

_"He never lets the Quaffle in,"_ the lion's head informed her from where it was lying on the ground.

"Oh, shut up," said Claire, glaring at it. "And you, slut, speak up!"

"I like Quidditch," said Luna over the continued song of her hat. "And I didn't feel like lying naked in bed today, I felt much more like going out and watch Gryffindor defeat Slytherin."

"I don't care what you felt like," said Claire. "Naughty little slut not do as she's told," she added as if talking to a very young child, "naughty little slut get punished. Naughty little slut ignore her punishment, naughty little slut in _big_ trouble. Get it?"

_"Weasley is our King," _the lion's head answered.

"Oh, for -" Claire snapped, letting go of Luna to pull her wand out and direct it at the hat. _"Silencio!"_

The lion's head fell silent.

"That wasn't very nice," said Luna.

"No, and neither was the song." said Claire, turning back to face Luna. "You know, you're getting to be much too disobedient these days. We're going to have to rectify that."

"You know, I'm beginning to think you might have been possessed by Whinglers all along," said Luna.

"What?" said Claire, her voice dangerously low.

"Whinglers," said Luna. "They were a failed experiment from the Department of Mysteries. It was in _The Quibbler_ a few months ago. The Ministry were set on creating creatures that could possess and mind-control people into doing what the Ministry wanted, but it failed and the Whinglers just turned out to make people bad-tempered and sex-obsessed and..."

_"Silencio!"_ Claire commanded again, and Luna suddenly found that her voice no longer worked.

"As I was saying," the older girl went on, "I'm the one in charge here, and since you seem to have forgotten that, I'm going to have to make you spend some time _remembering _it. And just for calling me '_sex-obsessed,_' little slut, I'm going to throw in some extra punishment."

Luna, still trying and failing to talk, took a few steps back. Maybe she should just run. She had promised Neville to stand up for herself, but running away would be kind of like standing up for herself if Claire didn't want her to run, wouldn't it?

Before she could fully decide, Claire swung her wand around and thrust it towards Luna. _"Sensualis!"_

Luna gasped as an unexpected wave of intense pleasure hit her, invisible energies flowing through her body, and her muscles grew weak, he knees buckled, and she had to lean against one of the tree-trunks to avoid falling over. Erotic bliss shot down her spine and made her vision cloudy, and Luna tried to moan, but she had no voice to moan with.

"Feels nice, doesn't it?" came Claire's casual voice from somewhere far outside the world of erotic pleasure. "Ever heard of the _Sensualis_ Charm, Loony? You won't learn it here at Hogwarts, that's for sure, but I hear a lot of married couples like to use it to sprite up their sex lives a little."

Luna tried moaning again, pressing herself against the tree-trunk and heaving for her breath. There was no part of her that wasn't part of the erotic bliss; against all reason, even her hair and her nails felt like they would explode with sexual pleasure, and it felt so good, it felt so incredibly fucking good, and already she could feel herself build up to the climax, she was going to... going to...

_AGHH!_

She cried out in voiceless frustration and sank to the ground as the sensations suddenly vanished. _Just five more seconds,_ she thought desperately, _five more seconds is all I need!_

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Claire, not sounding sorry in the least, "but I did say that this was supposed to be a punishment and not a reward." She held her wand up tauntingly. "And you don't get to orgasm until I say so. Now who is the one in charge here? Just point to the one in charge."

Luna felt her eyes tear up, but shook her head. She had promised Neville...

"No?" Claire smiled evilly. "Well, in that case, just consider that little trip a small sample of what's to come. You see, _Sensualis_ generally is only in effect so long as the caster keeps wand-contact with the target... but there's an interesting variation which doesn't have that limitation." Once again, she swung and thrust her wand towards Luna. _"Sensualis Continuare!"_

Luna's body gave a start as the intense sensations of pleasure rose up inside her once more, spreading out until her entire body was caught up in the haze, and all of Luna was one giant erogenous zone stroked and fondled in just the right way, and she wanted to moan loudly but she couldn't, and once again she felt the orgasm building up inside her, soon she would explode in pleasure... Yes, any second, any milisecond now...

But she didn't.

The sensations of pleasure stayed, but just as she thought it would bring her over the edge, they let up just enough to stop it from happening. She was hovering on the brink of orgasm and was kept there by the energies who weren't nice after all, they were cruel and evil, and she had never thought sexual pleasure could be painful, but it was, and her entire body was aching for release, and her eyes were misty and it was hard to think and, and, oh _fuck..._

She hitched her robes up and pulled her knickers off with such force that they were torn, their tattered remains flying as she threw them away, and she frantically began rubbing herself with both hands... but it wasn't enough, she didn't orgasm at all, her vagina - her _cun__t _- was on fire, an erotic burning fire, she had to do it harder or she'd go completely out if her mind...!

"The beauty of this variation," said Claire's voice, "is that it won't let you actually come. You can do anything you want, but the charm won't let up. I think some time with intolerable sexual frustration is a fitting punishment, don't you?"

Luna couldn't answer. She was vaguely aware that tears were running down her cheek as she panted and moaned and grunted without a voice and without a sound, masturbating furiously and to absolutely no avail.

"Of course, all you have to do," said Claire's voice, from somewhere a little further away, as if the girl was leaving, "is to cancel the charm with a _'Finite Incantatem,'_ and you'll have a nice, long orgasm, and it'll all be over. But wait!" the voice tried (and failed) to sound shocked. "You can't speak, can you? And you don't learn non-verbal magic until your sixth year! Oh dear, oh dear! Well, I'm sure a clever girl like you will think of something. Have a nice walk back to the castle, Loony!"

And then the voice faded away, signalling Claire's departure, and Luna was alone, alone with her burning pussy and aching body and hands that did no good at all.

She couldn't even scream.

* * *

><p>The next person Neville approached for his plan was Ginny Weasley; the most obvious choice for someone who would be willing to help Luna out.<p>

He tried to get her attention several times during the victory party for Gryffindor, but she was always surrounded by people, talking and joking and laughing, and it wasn't until he managed to catch her by the drinks table, where she was getting herself some Butterbeer (with her pet Pygmy Puff, Arnold, riding on her shoulders, and Hermione's cat following her closely, meowing hopefully), that he managed to approach her.

"Ginny," he said, leaning towards her so she'd hear him over the chatter of everyone else. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Trying to steal my girl, are you, Neville?" shouted Dean Thomas from the other part of the room. "Just joking!" he added hurriedly when Ginny turned to glare at him.

"Hmph," said Ginny, but she was all smiles again as she turned back to Neville. "Talk away, I'm all - _will you stop that already?" _she shot down at Crookshanks. "I'm not giving you Arnold, and that's final!"

"Mrrrow?" said Crookshanks pleadingly.

_"No,"_ said Ginny in a firm voice, and then returned her attention to Neville. "Sorry about that, Neville. What did you want to talk about?"

"Er - Luna Lovegood, actually," said Neville. "I mean, you're her friend, aren't you?"

"Of course I'm her friend," said Ginny. She paused, stroking Arnold with one finger. "Haven't seen her around much lately, come to think of it. But I've been awfully busy, with school, and Quidditch, and the war going on, and... and Dean, of course... But she's all right, isn't she? Did something happen?"

"Well, sort of," said Neville. "You know how the other Ravenclaws don't treat her very well, right? It's getting worse, and I think she's really miserable, she just doesn't show it very well. You know what she's like."

Ginny nodded. "I didn't know it was getting that bad, though," she said, sounding guilty. "I haven't been much of a friend to her lately, have I? I've barely talked to her all month."

"Like you said, you've been busy," said Neville. "I wouldn't have noticed it myself, except - well, I happened to catch her getting, er, bullied by an older Ravenclaw girl, and I've tried to keep an eye on her, but, well, you're in her year, and you're a girl, and -"

" - And I can go some places you can't," Ginny finished for him. "Of course I'll help. And I'll get Dean to help, too. I really didn't know how bad things were getting. Luna is lucky to have someone like you around, who notices things like that..."

Neville smiled briefly and thanked her for helping.

With three members of the DA - four, if Ginny got Dean to help as well - watching Luna, Claire might have a harder time getting her way with her. Of course, the system wasn't perfect, as Luna would still be without protection when in the Ravenclaw common room and dormitories (and somehow, he didn't think it would be a good idea to notify the Ravenclaw members of the DA; he had no guarantee they wouldn't be on Claire's side), but if Luna saw that she had people standing up for her, she might find the strength to stand up for herself.

Maybe he'd even manage to get Harry, Ron and Hermione to help as well... He'd have to see about that, but after the party. They all looked a little busy right now.

* * *

><p>Sometime before curfew, Ginny had taken Dean outside for a breath of fresh air - and hopefully a little uninterrupted snogging - while Crookshanks decided to still follow her around, even though she had long since put Arnold back in his cage.<p>

"That is one stubborn cat," Dean remarked as Crookshanks meowed again, looking up at Ginny. "Seems like he thinks you have an unlimited supply of Pygmy Puffs in your pocket."

"He just thinks that if he looks cute enough, I'll give him what he wants," said Ginny. "That's what I get for always tossing him snacks when Hermione stays at the Burrow."

Crookshanks looked so indignant at her words that Ginny had to laugh - which just seemed to insult him further. With an annoyed twitch of his tail, the cat turned around and walked off, vanishing in the darkness.

"And touchy as well," Ginny sighed.

"He'll be all right," said Dean. And then, they moved over to more important things, such as kissing each other, and they quite easily forgot about Crookshanks.

That is, until they heard a loud meow from somewhere out there in the dark. More meows followed, drawn-out and insistent, as if someone - an orange-furred, bandy-legged someone, to be exact - was calling for them.

They looked at each other. "Now what?" said Dean. "Did he find a mouse too big to drag back to the castle by himself or something?"

"I'd better go and check," Ginny muttered, untangling herself from him. "Hermione would never forgive me if I let anything happen to her cat." With that, she followed the sound of Crookshanks's meowing.

She found him a little way away from the castle, meowing loudly and pacing in a circle around what at first glance looked to be a pile of black cloth lying on the ground. As Ginny approached, Crookshanks stopped pacing and looked directly at her, meowing again.

And now Ginny saw that the pile was moving. It took perhaps five seconds before she fully realised that it wasn't a pile of cloth, but a person wearing black robes. Someone was lying there, unable to get up!

Ginny hurried up to them, on the verge of panic, and let out a little shriek of surprise as she saw that it was Luna.

The Ravenclaw girl was dirty and covered in sweat, her face tear-streaked, her hair even more mattered and ragged than usual, and her body shaking as she heaved for her breath again and again. She looked up at Ginny without really seeing her, her lips moving but no voice coming out.

"Luna!" Ginny got down on her knees and touched her friend's forehead, but Luna pulled away from Ginny's touch as if it stung her. "What's happened to you? Are you hurt?"

Luna looked like she tried to speak again, but not a word came out. She shuddered and pounded her face against the ground a few times. For a moment, Ginny was at a loss, but then she realised that Luna had to be under the effects of a Silencing Charm.

At once, Ginny had her wand in her hand. _"Finite - Finite Incantatem!"_

As soon as the spell hit her, Luna let out an ear-piercing wail, spasming and thrashing violently, arching her back and looking like she was trying to press herself into the ground.

"Aaaaah! Ahhh, God... I. Don't. Be. Lieve. It. Uh! Uh! Uh! Those. Those. Whinglers, aaahhhnnngggg!" Her voice was cracked and hoarse.

Dean came running, obviously having heard the scream, and stopped and stared at Luna with a shocked expression.

The girl had spasmed and thrashed against the ground for more than a minute before she finally calmed down. She flopped limply down and lay on her back, heaving for her breath and staring up at the sky with glassy eyes, a look of intense relief on her face.

"...Luna?" said Ginny, surprised at how small her voice sounded.

"Ooooooooh," Luna moaned, breathing deeply. "Oooooohhhh... I never want to do that again..."

"What happened to her?" said Dean.

"I don't know," said Ginny. "I think someone hexed her. Go find Madam Pomfrey!"

"Hex, hex, hex..." Luna murmured as Dean ran. "I think my tits just exploded."

"Er, no, Luna," said Ginny in what she hoped was a calm, reassuring voice. "No part of you has exploded."

"...Ginny?" said Luna, trying to lift her head and focus but not doing a very good job at it. "I feel icky..."

"Relax," said Ginny. "Dean's gone to get Madam Pomfrey. Luna, who did this to you?"

"Neville's going to be so upset at this," Luna croaked. "I promised him I'd try to stand up for myself... but at least this time it really _was _magic..." Her head fell back to the ground and her eyes closed.

"Was it -" Ginny swallowed. "Was it one of the Ravenclaws, Luna? Or - or was it the same person who got Katie Bell?"

"Are you sure... my tits didn't... explode?" Luna slurred.

"Er - Yes, I'm sure. But Luna -"

"Good..." Luna trailed off and then lay still. Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again as a light snore escaped the Ravenclaw girl.

Luna had sunk into a deep sleep, and for the fifteen minutes it took for Dean to return with Madam Pomfrey, she never so much as stirred. She didn't even wake up when she was lifted up in the air through Madam Pomfrey's expert use of the _Mobilicorpus _Charm, and she slept on as her floating form was moved towards the castle entrance.

Dean and Ginny followed Madam Pomfrey and the sleeping Luna back to the castle (with Crookshanks walking in front of the small group with his tail held high and proud, as if _he_ was the one leading the way), but they weren't allowed to follow them to the hospital wing.

"She'll be fine, she just needs rest," the Matron assured them. "She'll be awake tomorrow, so you can see her then. But for now - back to your common room with you!"

They went after the second time she told them, and returned to the common room, where the party was dying down, to talk to Neville.

"You were right," said Ginny furiously. "Those Ravenclaws have gone too far! I don't know what kind of curse that was, but it was _horrible!"_

"How could anyone do something like that to her?" said Dean, looking shaken. "Do _you_ know who did it, Neville?"

Neville looked uncomfortable, just shaking his head.

"Well," said Ginny. "From now on, anyone who so much as _looks _at Luna the wrong way are going to be on the receiving end of a Bat Bogey Hex! I promise!"

* * *

><p>Neville wasn't quite sure why he hadn't told Dean and Ginny about Claire Savelle, but as it turned out, Luna didn't tell them either. When she woke up the next day and Ginny asked her again who had placed that curse on her, the Ravenclaw girl had said, politely but firmly, that she didn't want to talk about it, and anyway she wasn't going to let it happen again.<p>

(Later on, she confided to Neville that she hadn't told Ginny about Claire because Ginny would immediately storm off to avenge her or something like that, and that would almost certainly mean that not only was Luna's relationship with Claire likely to leak out, but Ginny would get in trouble as well.)

And over the next few days, Ginny proved herself determined to keep her promise to Neville; she became Luna's fiercest protector and was always ready to leap to her defense, no matter the situation. Even the nickname "Loony Lovegood" almost died out during this period, because Ginny would lose her temper with anyone she heard using it - and Ginny had extremely good hearing and a temper not many students were willing to risk.

Dean and Seamus stayed a bit more in the background, both being busy enough with school things and not as close friends with Luna as Ginny was from beforehand, but Neville would occasionally see one, or both, of them, "casually" standing around nearby where Luna was, keeping an eye on the Ravenclaws.

Neville, though distraught at what Claire had done, was happy that they seemed to take their "mission" seriously. He had hoped that he might get Harry, Ron and Hermione in on it, too, but unfortunately neither of them proved approachable, and for quite different reasons.

Harry was too preoccupied to really pay much attention when Neville tried talking to him. It was clear that his mind was on other things, and although Neville didn't know exactly what it was, he guessed it probably had something to do with You-Know-Who. Neville's problems always seemed so much smaller when compared to Harry's, so in the end Neville decided not to bother Harry with this.

Hermione was worse. She had been in a foul mood ever since the day of the victory party, and talking to her was more or less the same as asking to get yelled at or even, if she was feeling particularly impatient, a jinx or two thrown after you. (Not that she would have had time in any case - Hermione had more schoolwork than any of them and rarely had any free time anymore.)

Part of the reason why she was so grumpy was Ron, who had suddenly decided to become Lavender Brown's boyfriend and seemed incapable of doing anything without first kissing her for half an hour. After several failed attempts at a conversation with him without Lavender interrupting, Neville finally drew the conclusion that in his present condition Ron wouldn't be much use at keeping an eye on Luna. In fact, Claire could probably have thrown Killing Curses at Luna straight in front of Ron before he managed to stop snogging Lavender long enough to notice.

Still - even though he couldn't have Harry, Ron or Hermione, Neville was happy with the small group he'd managed to gather.

Luna had stayed in the hospital wing for observation a couple of days, but had been released and was now back on her feet, and looking much better than she had for quite some time.

Madam Pomfrey had commented that she was becoming an almost as frequent visitor there as Harry Potter himself, and had asked quite sternly, Luna told Neville later, if she had quite finished experimenting with sexual magic.

"She told me I should just use my _hand _next time," said Luna, looking at Neville with solemn eyes. "But I don't know. After all this, I don't think I'll ever have any kind of sex again, and I certainly don't feel like masturbating anymore either. It was quite horrible."

"I'm just glad you're better," said Neville.

"Oh, much, thank you!" Luna smiled. "Did you know Hermione's cat is part Kneazle, by the way? He's really rather sweet, even though he always looks so grumpy. He was the one who found me, you know."

It was a little strange hearing Luna talk about creatures that Neville actually knew existed, and not even try to tie them to any kind of government conspiracies or other unbelievable situations. But all in all, she was acting a lot more like her old self again, and he was actually grateful for it. He made a mental note to give Crookshanks a few extra treats as a way of saying thank you.

"What are we going to do about Claire, though?" he said. "What she did to you... and sooner or later, she's going to try something again."

"Maybe she is as addicted to me as I was to her," said Luna. "Although she does have a girlfriend. But maybe Marietta just doesn't like to fuck... Oh yes, sorry, you don't like the word _'fuck.__' _I keep forgetting."

"It's all right... I'm getting used to it," said Neville with a sigh. "Does Marietta even know what her girlfriend gets up to, by the way?"

"I don't think so," said Luna. "But she wants to keep her relationship with Claire a secret as well, you know. Not everybody likes the idea of two girls fuck- I mean, _snogging."_ She lowered her voice. "Daddy knew two witches once who worked for the _Daily Prophet_ but were fired when it came out that they were lovers. The editor said that the Prophet was a moral and decent publication, and wouldn't stand for that sort of thing. Their story was printed in _The Quibbler,_ but nobody seemed to believe it."

Neville wasn't sure whether he would have believed it either, had it not been for the undeniable proof he'd had in the last couple of years about the true nature of the _Prophet._ Any editor who would start campaigns to discredit the names of Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore, was liable to do anything.

The news of Marietta Edgecombe made sense, though. Though it had been Marietta who sold the DA out to Umbridge the previous year, the girl had never struck Neville as actively cruel or malicious - just very cowardly and, sadly, not all that bright. What someone like her was doing in a place like Ravenclaw, he had no idea, but then - he often had no idea what someone like him was doing in Gryffindor.

Wouldn't a true Gryffindor, the very moment he'd learned about Claire's treatment of Luna, gone to confront the older Ravenclaw girl, probably hitting her with all sorts of curses and jinxes until she promised not to do it again?

But Luna had already refused to confide in Ginny, to stop her from doing exactly that - she wouldn't appreciate Neville trying it either. Besides, Neville was realistic enough about his own abilities, and Claire was not only a year older than him, but a very skilled witch at that. Trying to directly confront her would only result in Neville ending up in the hospital wing, or worse. And that certainly wouldn't help Luna.

He did, in the end, decide to confront Marietta, though.

He managed to catch the Ravenclaw girl the same afternoon, up in the Owlery and apparently in the midst of sending a letter. He noticed that the word _'SNEAK'_ was still vaguely visible on her face behind layers of make-up, and vaguely wondered just how strong Hermione's jinx had been.

"Oh, Longbottom," Marietta said absent-mindedly, tying the neatly-folded paper to the leg of one of the school owls, which looked rather bored with the entire ordeal. "Hello, how are you?"

"Fine, thank you," said Neville. "Can I ask you a, well, a personal question?" He was really getting good at going up and talking to people about uncomfortable subjects, he'd noticed; the old Neville would have stuttered and blushed and probably tripped over his feet at some point.

Marietta shrugged as she finished tying the message to the owl, watching it take off.

"It's about Luna Lovegood," Neville began, but was interrupted before he could get any further by a loud, indignant shriek from Marietta.

"Not you too!" she yelled. "I'm _sorry_ I ever called her _'Loony,'_ all right? Are you happy now? Is that what you want to hear? First Ginny Weasley, and then that nutter Finnigan, and now you! What _is _it with you Gryffindors and Luna Lovegood?"

Neville took a step backwards, taken aback by the sudden rage. "Um - er -" he said, trying to think of what to say. "Er, well, she was, you know, a very, a very prominent member of the DA..."

"The what?"

Neville suddenly remembered that Marietta had had her memories modified shortly after selling the DA out to Umbridge, and it seemed like nobody had bothered to re-inform her about the DA's existence since then. "Nothing," he said quickly. "It was, er, the code name we used for that little trip to the Ministry at the end of last year."

Marietta stared blankly at him.

Neville gave up. "It's not important. The thing is, Luna is a good friend, and I just noticed that Claire Savelle..."

_"What do you know about me and Claire Savelle?"_ Marietta screamed, looking slightly hysterical. "Oh, God! You were spying on us that day! I _told _Claire we shouldn't have been snogging in that public place! I _knew _we'd be discovered! You and your Gryffindor pals have spent all your evenings since then scoffing at Marietta the _dyke_, haven't you? Bad enough that everybody keeps calling me _'Sneak'_ because of this stupid acne, _now everyone's shunning me because I'm a lesbian!"_ The last words were almost inaudible, because Marietta's voice had reached such a high-pitched level that it could have been used in a dog flute. A few of the owls took to their wings and flew out through the windows.

"I - I haven't told anyone!" said Neville, feeling the situation spin rapidly out of control. "It doesn't matter to me that you're a lesbian, honestly!"

"And now you're broadcasting it to the entire school!" she yelled.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! I heard you! You just said out loud that I was a lesbian! Don't you dare deny it!"

"You - you said it first!" Neville squeaked, taking another step back and nearly slipping on the bird droppings on the floor. "And, and I haven't been spying! It was really because of Claire that -"

"Claire told you?"

"Er, well, no, she - she sort of told Luna that -"

_"__SO __CLAIRE __DID TELL__ LOONY LOVEGOOD__, DID SHE__?"_ This time, Marietta's voice was so loud that the rest of the owls in the Owlery (apart from a few old, deaf or lazy ones) decided to flee the room as well. "That does it! This relationship is over! When she gets that love letter I just sent to her, I'll steal it from her and tear it to _pieces!"_

She pushed Neville aside and marched out of the Owlery.

Neville struggled to keep his balance, but lost the struggle, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on the floor, in the middle of the foul-smelling owl droppings, trying to work out what in the world had just happened.

* * *

><p>Luna could inform him, later on, that Claire and Marietta had had a violent row in the Ravenclaw common room and now they weren't speaking to each other.<p>

"It was really strange," she said. "I've never seen Marietta so angry. Not even Cho managed to calm her down, and that's the first time that's ever happened. I wonder if Marietta was possessed by Whinglers as well? They do tend to make people bad-tempered, you know, but these ones must have been particularly angry. You know, the kind that the Ministry kept sending after Harry last year to make him seem emotionally unstable. I think Daddy is looking at publishing an article about that in the next issue of _The Quibbler."_

Of course, Neville thought, if all the articles of _The Quibbler_ had been true, the Ministry had to be demons in disguise or something - but he didn't say anything. Marietta's overly violent reaction still didn't make much sense to _him__,_ but there was really nobody else to ask at the moment.

However, Claire's desire for Luna seemed to have vanished after the row; at least she made no more attempts to seduce or manipulate her for the following couple of days. Neville was still uneasy about everything, though: Wouldn't Claire, now that Marietta had left her, eventually start plotting revenge?

But on the third day after Luna had been released from the hospital wing, something rather unexpected happened.

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> Or maybe not _that _unexpected, at least not if you've read _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince._

Marietta's characterization came as a complete surprise to me even as I wrote it. She doesn't get much development in the books, just being described as one of Cho Chang's 'usually giggling' friends. But I think it's not too far a stretch to say that she hasn't been very emotionally stable since that Memory Charm, not to mention Hermione's curse. (J. K. Rowling may loathe a traitor, but it can't be easy having the word _'SNEAK' _scrawled in acne across your face, especially when nobody will tell you why.) The overly violent reaction... well, the reasons for it will be dealt with in the next chapter. Despite what Luna thinks, it definitely wasn't Whinglers.

Thanks to Chanpuppy for the _Sensualis_ spell. She pointed out, quite logically, that if wizards had a spell to cause physical pain, like _Crucio,_ or for that matter, spells to affect someone's mood, like the Cheering Charms, they would almost certainly have spells that caused sexual pleasure.


	4. The Obsessions of Claire Savelle

_Just as promised, here's the fourth (and incidentally the longest) chapter of the story. It's the halfway-mark, so to speak; there were three chapters before it and there'll be three chapters after it. _

_In this chapter, we shift the viewpoint away from Neville and Luna for a while (don't worry, they're still in the chapter) as Claire Savelle gets to explain her side of the story... and it might be even more twisted than it looked from the outside. _

_Certain readers of previous drafts of the story have described Claire as "creepy" in this chapter, so once again, consider yourself warned._

* * *

><p><strong>BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO<strong>

**Based on the _Harry Potter_ books by J. K. Rowling.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER FOUR:<br>The Obsessions Of Claire Savelle**

* * *

><p>It was completely unbelievable, but it was true.<p>

Only a few days after Luna Lovegood had played a minor role in the Ravenclaw Scandal (with Claire Savelle and Marietta Edgecombe in the main roles), she was once again in the middle of the public eye, not only for the Ravenclaw students, but for Hogwarts as a whole. And the reason?

Harry Potter - the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, the greatest hero among Hogwarts students - had asked her to go to Horace Slughorn's Christmas party with her. And she had accepted.

Mere hours after the news had been broadcast (by Peeves the poltergeist, no less) rumours were flying that the two were madly in love with each other and were going steady.

Claire Savelle watched from a distance as Potter walked with Luna up to Slughorn's office, surrounded by a bunch of other girls who looked upon them both with more or less concealed looks of jealousy.

_What a __lot__ of __twits__,_ she thought to herself, noticing that a fair number of Ravenclaw girls were among the onlookers. _Don't they realise that Potter is __rotten__ boyfriend material? __Have they__ forgotten the horror stories Cho told them with last year__?_

Claire had never quite understood what exactly the big deal was with Harry Potter. All right, he was a brilliant Quidditch player, and of course he had accomplished a lot of impressive things over the course of the years. He would certainly have been a credit to Ravenclaw, had he been sorted there... and now that he wasn't so small and skinny anymore, he didn't look too bad either. (Not that Claire generally went for the boys, mind.)

Fine, there were many admirable things about the Boy Who Lived. But he wasn't the only skilled, athletic and accomplished student at Hogwarts. He certainly wasn't the most handsome either. So what was the big deal?

"You're Muggle-born," Padma Patil had once told her. "You just don't have the proper background to truly appreciate what Harry Potter has done for us!"

Fair enough, Claire had thought before changing the subject, because Padma clearly hadn't been able to see _her_ point of view. As a pure-blood, Padma had been filled up with Harry Potter propaganda for the last fifteen years and couldn't possibly imagine that Claire didn't give a flying fuck about You-Know-Who.

Even now that the so-called Dark Lord was, allegedly, back, Claire wasn't too worried about it. Even if she herself was Muggle-born and would be among the main targets of the Death Eaters, the threat seemed somewhat lessened by the fact that these Death Eaters _had a leader that had failed to kill a one-year-old baby._ Hardly the stuff of nightmares.

She never said this to anyone else, of course, because that would have resulted in a long and stern lecture about how dark and terrible You-Know-Who was - and she really didn't need that. In her opinion, all the Death Eaters were complete duffers for even buying into the old pure-blood prejudices about Muggle-borns being inferior.

After all, _she _was a Muggle-born, but had done well for herself at Hogwarts; she had a natural knack for picking things up easily, and had gained somewhat of a reputation as an exceptionally talented and intelligent student - even for a Ravenclaw.

In fact, she'd grown a little bored with the standard education at Hogwarts, and had from an early age set out to learn more complicated and far more interesting spells on her own...

* * *

><p>It had all started during the Christmas holidays of Claire's fourth year, shortly after her fifteenth birthday.<p>

Since Claire lived in London, and only a short distance away from Diagon Alley, it was easy enough for her to visit the wizarding world whenever she liked, even when she was home for the holidays. Sometimes she brought her parents along for these visits (they were as Muggle as could be, but very interested in magic all the same), but most often she went alone - after all, what fifteen-year-old wants her parents to tag along wherever she goes?

And it was during one of her solo ventures to Diagon Alley, while browsing _Flourish & Blott's_ for interesting books, that she had come upon that small and discreet section at the very back of the bookshop.

The section was easy enough to ignore; while the rest of the books on the shelves tended to fight for your attention (sometimes literally), the books on _these _shelves seemed more like they were pretending they weren't there, with their grey, uninteresting covers and small sizes. And yet... out of the corner of her eye, Claire would catch a more colourful cover or something that looked interesting, but when she turned to fully focus on the book in question it was back to being dull and grey.

So there was a charm on these books then, one that prevented them from looking interesting. Curious as to why, Claire picked one book at random and opened it.

Oh, what a sight that met her. The page she'd opened the book on contained a moving, full-colour illustration of a witch and a wizard, both completely naked and performing something called a _Sensualis _Charm on one another.

Claire's heart began pounding in her chest. She flipped through the pages and was rewarded with more colourful illustrations of naked people in various sexual positions, performing all sorts of sexual charms on themselves and each other, with the accompanying texts providing instructions for and descriptions of the charms in question.

All the so-called uninteresting and grey books in this section, in fact, were filled with sex and sexual magic. Claire had never even dreamed that there would be an erotic section in a wizard bookshop, much less that there was so much magic purely dedicated to sex and sexual pleasure. She spent an informative (and arousing!) twenty minutes thumbing through the books, before the shopkeeper discovered what she was doing and politely but firmly escorted her away from the erotic section, explaining that since she wasn't of age yet, he wasn't allowed to let her read - much less buy - those books.

But of course Claire's curiosity, combined with her Ravenclaw determination to learn new things, wasn't going to let her give up that easily. The next day, she returned to _Flourish & Blott's_ under the effect of an Aging Potion she had bought in Knockturn Alley ("guaranteed to fool anyone"), and though the shopkeeper did look a little suspicious at the forty-year-old woman making her way to the erotic section, he didn't say anything.

Long before the Aging Potion had worn off, Claire was out of the shop with the two books she'd wanted - _The Art Of Pleasure: Magic And Sensuality_ and _Everything You Wanted To Know About Sexual Charms But Were Too Shy To Ask._

She hid them under her pillow, and for the rest of the holidays, when her parents thought she was asleep, she huddled under her bedcovers and read about wizard sex in deep fascination. How many ways there were of gaining sexual pleasure through magic...!

Of course, thanks to the strict prohibition of using magic outside school before you were seventeen, she hadn't been able to actually try any of the sexual magic out until the holiday was over and she was back at Hogwarts - and of course, she couldn't just start experimenting with the charms in front of everyone.

She waited until late at night, when she was quite sure that all the girls in her dormitory had gone to sleep.

With her first experiments with the simplest charm, the _Sensualis,_ she woke all her dorm-mates up with her loud moaning and had to quickly hide both wand and books as they crowded around her bed to ask what was wrong. Luckily, they seemed to buy her story that she was having a nightmare - even though it took a long time for Claire to shake the feeling that they all knew what she had been up to and were either laughing at her or scoffing at her behind her back.

After this, Claire always made sure to pull the curtains up around her bed and use a Silencing Charm on them whenever she felt like experimenting.

But oh, how wonderful it all felt. Though the _Sensualis _was a little awkward to use on yourself, since you needed to keep wand-contact at all time, the delicious erotic feelings more than made up for it, and several nights in a row, protected from discovery by the Silencing Charm, Claire let heself vanish in a world of bliss.

After some time, she grew more daring, more secure in the knowledge that nobody knew what she was up to, and began exploring herself and her own sexuality more thoroughly. She read her two books almost religiously for ideas, she brewed potions for herself (nicking ingredients from Potions class when Professor Snape wasn't looking) that gave her highly detailed erotic dreams that ended in orgasmic bliss; she conjured up various toys and Vanished them again when she was done, she discovered charms and spells that heightened or lowered sensations as she wanted it.

It was thrilling. By day, she was still the same old Claire; an attentive and talented student who sometimes heard she was a little too smart for her own good. By night, she was a different Claire, a private Claire; a deliciously, _fucking naughty_ Claire. Every night, or at least almost every night, a new orgasm, a new little bit of ecstasy, a new gloriously detailed fantasy.

But, as she was soon to discover, over-indulging often becomes a habit, and habit becomes routine, and routine becomes... dull. It crept up on her so slowly that she barely noticed at first, but as time passed her indulgences were becoming less interesting, less exciting.

One late night at the beginning of her sixth year, after she had just gone to bed and was lazily going over her options for getting a bit of sexual pleasure out ot the night, the thought struck her: _Why bother?_

Claire looked at her wand, sighing. So much pleasure it had given her over the last couple of years, and now she was _tired _of it. The thrill was completely gone, the excitement dead.

What she needed was a change. Or, ideally, someone she could have sex _with._ Until now, she had been set on keeping her secret sex life, well, a secret - a special time only for her. But maybe, just maybe, it would be nice to bring someone else in on it as well. The problem, as she saw it, was that all the _boys _at Hogwarts were so immature and gross.

Then, another thought struck her. She wanted to dismiss it as ludicrous, and probably morally abhorrent, but... she was so _bored_. And nobody needed to _know_.

She raised herself and pulled the curtains on her bed aside. The dorm room was dark and silent around her, the only sounds around her being the silent breathing of the other girls. Claire was the only one awake, nobody would ever know if she... If she...

She swallowed and looked at the other beds. All the beds in the dorm room (and possibly all the beds in all the Hogwartsdorm rooms, for all Claire knew) had curtains around them, for the sake of privacy and modesty - but not all the girls bothered to close the curtains at night. They had lived together for six years, after all, what point was there in being shy?

Marietta Edgecombe, who slept in the bed closest to Claire, certainly hadn't bothered with the curtains. She was lying on her back, her mouth open, her chest rising and sinking underneath her covers.

Claire glanced at the other girls. They were all sound asleep, they wouldn't notice anything. Silently, she put her feet on the ground and tip-toed over to Marietta's bed, clutching her wand in her hand.

"Marietta?" she whispered, just to make sure the girl was really asleep.

When Marietta didn't answer, Claire carefully climbed into her bed and pulled the curtains close behind her. The other girl stirred a little, but after a second or so just sighed and rolled over on her stomach, murmuring something in her sleep.

Claire's heart was pounding in her chest; she knew she was doing something she shouldn't, and that excited her more than it should have.

Suddenly, she was in a hurry. Placing a Silencing Charm on the curtains around Marietta's bed took only a few seconds, and putting the girl herself into a deep, enchanted sleep took even less time. Now the other girls wouldn't hear and Marietta wouldn't wake up until Claire let her.

It wasn't a bad thing to do, she told herself. She was just ensuring some sweet dreams for her dorm-mate, after all. And Marietta wouldn't know.

_"Sensualis!"_

As the charm took effect, Marietta's sleepy murmurs turned into heavy breathing and eventually blissful moans.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Claire woke up in her own bed again, and knew two things.<p>

**One:** She was a sick, sick individual who should be expelled from Hogwarts and thrown into Azkaban.

**Two: **Marietta Edgecombe was the most beautiful, most desirable girl in the world, and Claire was hopelessly in love with her.

Claire had never been in love before. She'd sometimes wondered what it might be like, but with all the gross and immature boys around, she'd never felt in any hurry to fall in love. But all of a sudden, it seemed like Marietta Edgecombe had a much bigger place in Claire's mind than before. The way she walked, talked, laughed... the way she moaned in unconscious ecstasy...

Both _The Art Of Pleasure_ and E_verything You Wanted To Know About Sexual Charms_ mentioned same-sex relationships and talked about having erotic feelings for people your own sex, though they approached the topic in different ways.

_The Art Of Pleasure_ seemed slightly condemning in the way some written texts get when the author disapproves of a subject, but doesn't want to seem intolerant. Same-sex relationships were browsed over fairly quickly in favour of longer segments about the classic male/female pairing, but it did say (even if it didn't seem to believe) that there was nothing really wrong with a girl falling in love with another girl.

_Everything You Wanted To Know About Sexual Charms,_ on the other hand, condemned absolutely nothing. In fact, it got a little overly enthusiastic when talking about having feelings (erotic and otherwise) for people your own sex, and had dedicated entire chapters to charms specifically designed for same-sex couples.

Claire had read it all before, of course, but she had never really thought of those parts of the books as being about _her._ Still... it would explain so much, it would explain why she had never felt anything for all the disgusting boys in her House, and now she was in love with Marietta.

There was no way around it: She - Claire Savelle - was a lesbian.

...a sick, sick lesbian who belonged in Azkaban, she reminded herself at the thought of what she had done. She could never tell Marietta about this, never. It was just too... too... sick.

It was disgusting. She was worse than an animal.

_She had to do it again._

Her nightly sessions changed slightly in nature. All fantasies and erotic dreams - which, until now, had focused mostly on Claire herself and only involved vague ideas of other, nondescript people - began involving Marietta. Naked Marietta in every single conceivable position, begging Claire to _Sensualis _her again...

And so, a few days later, before bedtime, Claire "casually" offered all her dorm-mates one each of her "special" peppermints - sweets that she had carefully prepared with a simple sleeping potion. They all happily accepted, of course - she had yet to meet a single wizard, especially not a student, who _wasn't _crazy about sweets. (Maybe being obsessed with sweets was a sign of magical blood? Professor Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard who ever lived, was also the biggest sweet-tooth Claire had ever seen. That was a subject worth thinking more closely about some other time.)

The sleeping potion took a few minutes to work, but before long all the the girls (most importantly Marietta) had crawled into their beds and sunk into a deep sleep from which nothing would wake them until next morning.

Claire once more tip-toed over to Marietta's bed, and - not bothering with curtains or Silencing Charms this time, since everyone was sound asleep anyway - slid her bedcovers aside and carefully began undressing the girl.

_This i__s the most beautiful thing __in the world__,_ she thought as Marietta lay there naked and uncovered in front of her. The perfectly-shaped face, the round and perky breasts, the graceful curve of the hips, the flat stomach... and of course, the neatly-trimmed curls between her legs...

_"Sensualis!"_ she commanded, and watched the sleeping beauty twitch and gasp and moan, every single movement a work of erotic perfection...

When the girls all woke up the next day, nobody showed any hint of knowing they had been drugged, although Marietta seemed to wonder why she was naked - because Claire had quite forgotten to re-dress her.

"Wasn't it hot tonight?" said Claire hurriedly as the naked Marietta crawled out of bed with a vaguely confused look on her face. "I think the house-elves got carried away with the firewood or something. I had to take off my nightdress for a while, I was so warm!"

Marietta blinked. "Oh. Was that what it... I was a little confused. I can't remember taking anything off, though."

"You probably just woke up half-way, because it was too warm," said Claire. "And then you undressed and went back to sleep. And since you weren't quite awake, you don't remember it now."

"Yes... yes, that makes sense," Marietta said. "It explains why I feel all... sweaty and icky, too. I'd better go take a shower..."

Claire breathed a silent sigh of relief, and promised herself that for the future, she would remember to re-dress and clean Marietta before going back to her own bed.

* * *

><p>Over the next year, Claire kept herself going with her secret love and even more secret night visits, becoming almost as familiar with Marietta's body as she was with her own.<p>

Her sense of guilt had diminished, and what was left of it was easily silenced with a few logical arguments: Nobody was getting hurt. There was nothing but pleasure to be had for both parties. And it wasn't as though she was over at Marietta's bed every night, or even every week; she kept it a rare treat, her own special secret indulgence, and nobody ever knew.

Well - if Claire was to be honest about herself, it _did _hurt just a little that Marietta didn't know anything about Claire's feeling for her. Claire always told Marietta how much she loved her during her nightly sessions, and longed to declare her love for the girl when she was awake as well - but she knew that she would never be able to do that. The thought of rejection, of maybe finding out that Marietta thought lesbianism was wrong and unnatural, was far too frightening a prospect.

And Marietta really had enough to think about. Sometime after Christmas that same year, Claire was shocked to see the girl suddenly, and for no reason at all, began sporting the nastiest, ugliest acne she had ever seen - acne that on top of it all spelled the word _'__SNEAK__'_ in big, clear letters across her face.

And she wouldn't - or couldn't - explain what had happened or how her face had got that way.

Claire suspected a particularly nasty magical prank by either the Weasley twins or one of their accomplices (it was more than suspicious how Fred and George escaped from the school shortly after this event, anyway), but it seemed that no-one could prove anything, so whoever the culprit was, he or she went unpunished.

A long time afterwards, Marietta spent most her time hiding from the rest of the world. When she finally, and with the help of Cho Chang (whom Claire suspected knew more about the entire ordeal than she let on), managed to gain enough courage to go out in public again, she was wearing a balaclava to hide her acne - which only partially succeeded - and she had changed from a cheerful, giggling girl to a withdrawn, introverted young woman almost constantly on the verge of tears, who seldom smiled and never laughed, and was the subject of nasty comments wherever she went.

It was the most unfair things Claire had ever experienced. What if the acne never went away - Marietta would have to walk around for the rest of her life as a _'SNEAK'!_ And somewhere, the Weasley twins were probably sniggering their heads off and congratulating each other on a prank well done!

Well, they wouldn't get away with it.

But first she needed proof that they indeed were the ones behind this cruel prank. It was common knowledge at Hogwarts that Fred and George Weasley were not the sort of people to cross needlessly, and trying to pursue them without any real evidence would be foolish - especially after they'd left school.

She hadn't really considered using Luna Lovegood before she overheard a brief conversation between two Slytherins, who were observing Luna together with Ginny Weasley and loudly speculating upon whether the two were lesbian lovers or something.

The idea fell into her head at once. If Loony Lovegood really was the lesbian lover of her prime suspects' sister, then Loony Lovegood would be in the ideal position to either find out more of the Weasley twins' involvement in the case - or perhaps she already _knew._ Maybe Ginny even had told her everything and they were both laughing at Marietta behind her back?

Claire thought a bit about her options. Luna was an absolute nutter, but she was actually rather nice-looking, in her own big-eyed, scraggly-haired way. She was no Marietta Edgecombe, of course, but there was something about her that made Claire wonder just what she might look like squirming in pleasure... And of course, there was the added bonus that the other Ravenclaws mostly ignored the girl, when they weren't making fun of her...

It was with this in mind Claire spent a great deal of the Summer holiday making plans for the seduction of Luna Lovegood.

* * *

><p>The first few days back at Hogwarts after the summer holidays were generally hectic, and even more so for a seventh-year, but Claire did manage to spend at least some time watching Luna and planning her first strike.<p>

She had gone through her plan several times, creating a few backup plans in case they would be needed. After all, she didn't _know _that Luna was a lesbian, she just _guessed_, and in case she was wrong, she needed a few alternate routes to go. Weak love potions, bought from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes (what delightful irony!), were ready in case Luna should need them, and lust-inducing charms from _The Art of Pleasure_ had been meticulously rehearsed.

As she watched Luna - naive, oblivious Luna - and thought about what she was going to do, she felt a thrill that was almost as strong as the one she had felt at the beginning of her secret "relationship" with Marietta. If she wasn't careful now, she'd forget the real reason for why she wanted to seduce the girl and just do it for the sheer excitement of it.

The perfect opportunity presented itself already on the first Friday of the term, when she got to sit next to Luna at the dinner table (not that this was particularly hard; it wasn't as though there were a lot of people eager to sit next to Loony Lovegood). The girl was sitting in her own thoughts, eating her food with that characteristic dreamy look on her face, her wand tucked behind her ear as usual. She paid no attention to Claire, which suited Claire very well.

A specially-prepared carrot, acquired from the kitchen (where very eager house-elves were more than willing to give her anything she wanted) and dipped in a flavorless lust potion, was all ready for its task, and Claire was just about to slip it onto Luna's plate when she noticed that quite a few of her fellow Ravenclaws were looking at her.

To avoid unpleasant questions, she decided to make a clown out of herself. Pretending that this had been her plan all along, she snatched Luna's wand from behind her ear and replaced it with the carrot, with a gruff Mad-Eye Moody imitation: "Constant vigilance, Loony!"

Potential suspicion turned to laughter and amusement from the other Ravenclaws as Luna responded, rather predictably, by turning over to Claire. "May I have my wand back, please?" she asked, looking so dreamy that she might as well not have been paying attention to any of the goings-on.

Still in her role of a clown, Claire decided she might as well tease the girl a little extra. I don't know... Maybe I should just let you keep the carrot."

"But I really do need my wand," said Luna. "I can't cast any spells with a carrot, you know. I've tried before, but carrots are too unmagical."

"Oh, but this is a special carrot, it's a Crumple-Horned Snorcarrot!" said Claire (to the obvious delight of the others, who had all suffered through Loony Lovegood's constant tales of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack). "You can power it up by keeping it behind your ear!"

The session was, however, cut abruptly short by the interference of Professor McGonagall, who took ten points from Ravenclaw for _"not behaving in a way becoming of Hogwarts students." _An annoyance, to be certain, but it did give Claire a perfect opportunity to "vow revenge" on Luna, in a fake jovial tone.

"We'll just have to make up for it with some entertainment before bedtime, won't we? When there are no teachers around to spoil our fun?"

Designed to sound like it would be another round of humiliation for Luna, these words had apparently worked a little too well, because the younger girl somehow managed to vanish after supper and was nowhere to be seen in the Ravenclaw common room when Claire looked for her.

Still, Claire wasn't too worried. Luna would have to show up sooner or later - and as it turned out, the lateness actually worked to her advantage, because it gave her time to prepare and improve upon her original plan. Obviously, since she hadn't eaten the carrot, Luna would _not _be overcome by passion and let herself be dragged away to the empty dorms to be fucked like a good girl, but there was nothing wrong with turning the seduction into a slightly grander performance either. The Ravenclaw common room, with its airy mystique, would be an excellent stage.

Just as Claire had hoped, thanks to the hectic first week, most of the Ravenclaws decided to go to bed early that night... and the few that had decided to stay up to read or play chess changed their minds easily enough thanks to Claire's generous offerings of her special peppermints.

_Thank goodness it's not Saturday,_ she thought as she watched the last half-asleep students stumble up to their dorms - probably to fall asleep fully-dressed on their beds. _I wouldn't have had enough peppermints to give to all the people who'd want to stay up all night on a Saturday._

She went up to her own dormitory to change into her nightdress and get all the things she needed (and to spend a minute or so gazing at Marietta's sleeping form, promising her that she only did this to avenge the dastardly deed done to Marietta). Almost as an afterthought, she afterwards went around to all the dormitories, placing Silencing Charms on all the doors.

Luna still hadn't shown up when Claire returned downstairs, and so she spent few minutes hiding the bottle of love potion under a convenient chair (in case she'd need it) and making sure all the curtains were pulled away, letting the moon shine in on the room - a pity that it wasn't a _full _moon tonight, but even a waning crescent did a lot to help set the right mood.

The stage had been set, and Claire grabbed her woolen blanket, settling down in a chair to wait for the other actor in the drama. She had to come, sooner or later.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, and Claire had almost drifted off to sleep herself, the sound of someone entering the common room reached her ears. She shook herself awake just in time to see the silent, scraggly-haired figure make its way through the midnight-blueness of the room.

_Showtime._ "Hello, Loony," said Claire, smirking as she saw the look of mild surprise on the girl's face. Clearly she'd hoped that nobody would be around at this hour. "I thought you'd show up if I just waited long enough."

"Oh," Luna murmured.

"We missed you terribly after supper," Claire continued. _She thinks she knows what's coming. Good - let's confirm her thoughts for a while, then knock her off-balance._ "It's not nice to run away from your House-mates! Didn't your Mummy ever teach you that before she went and blew herself to bits?"

Luna looked at her again and shook her head, no trace of anger or sadness in her dreamy eyes.

Claire rose, ignoring the woolen blanket as it fell to the floor. Already, as she walked over to Luna, she could see that the girl was withdrawing into herself again, beginning to stare out the window instead of looking at Claire. _Keep to the plan. Keep her confused, disoriented... don't give her time to gather her thoughts._

She grabbed Luna's head and forced her to look back at her. "Hello," she said. "I'm talking to you."

"I know, but I'm not listening," said Luna distantly, her large eyes staring directly into Claire's.

"Maybe I should make you listen, then. I'm the sort of person it pays to listen to." Claire let her voice drop to a murmur as she pulled closer to Luna. "Besides, there's nobody else here, just you and me. I can do whatever I want with you, and no-one will ever know. Does that frighten you?"

Luna didn't answer, just staring wide-eyed at her.

_How about that,_ Claire thought, _she's scared stiff._ "I said," she raised her voice again, "are you afraid?"

"Afraid..." Luna murmured. "No."

_Liar._ "Good."

And then she kissed her, hard and forcibly. While she'd had some practice kissing the sleeping Marietta, this was the first time Claire was kissing someone who was awake - but Luna wasn't pulling away; her body was shaking against Claire's, her breath quick, her eyes even wider with the surprise... but then those eyes drooped and the girl relaxed into the kiss with a slight sigh, and she was soft and warm and unresisting as Claire carefully began exploring her body with her hands.

Only when Claire's hands found her pockets did Luna react with a small, protesting "mm!" and tried to pull away.

Claire broke the kiss and stared into the girl's eyes. Was it just her imagination, or was there just a hint of excitement there in that usually-dreamy expression? "You're not going to scream," she commanded. "You're not going to run away. You're just going to stand here like a good girl and let me do this..."

Luna obeyed. She was breathing heavily, looking flustered, but she stayed still as Claire dug into her pockets and confiscated her wand... and, to her amusement and surprise, found the carrot from dinner in the same pocket. It seemed like Luna had taken the carrot as well and forgotten about it.

_Let's just see if the potion still works_, Claire thought before shoving the carrot into Luna's open mouth and telling her to suck on it.

With another small "mmm," Luna obeyed this command as well.

_Come on! Come on!_ Claire thought to herself, hoping desperately that her mask of calm wasn't breaking. If she appeared as anything less than completely in control, the illusion would break, and Luna might regain her senses enough to leave before the potion took effect.

She allowed her just enough time to realize what she was doing before delivering the next blow to her balance. She held up Luna's wand in front of her face, making certain that she saw it before commanding _"Evanesco!__"_ and causing the girl's robes to vanish.

The robes dissolved into thin air and revealed some really ugly purple underclothes, a loose vest, woolen stockings and a pair of frumpy knickers, all in a purple colour that clashed marvellously with the Butterbeer-cork-necklace Luna was always wearing.

Luna was breathing heavily, her eyes beginning to glaze over, and Claire knew then that the potion was starting to work.

_"Evanesco!"_ The horrible-looking vest vanished, and even in a purple bra and knickers, not to mention stockings that just shouldn't be _allowed_, Claire could definitely appreciate the nicely-rounded shapes of Luna's shivering body. Nothing spectacular compared to Marietta, but easy enough on the eyes.

_"Evanesco!_" The bra disappeared. Luna's bare breasts peeked out at Claire as in they were surprised to see her, and Claire couldn't help herself; she had to reach out and touch them. She was rewarded with a silent gasp from Luna and a hardening nipple...

_You're mine._ Claire was so aroused she felt like she might burn up. As fast as she could while still keeping herself "casually seductive," she pressed herself against Luna and stroked her breasts and stomach before slipping her hand down her knickers, her fingers stroking moist, curly hair...

Luna gasped again, much louder, and bit off the carrot.

_YES!_ Claire had to bite her lip in order to refrain from giggling. _Oh, you are definitely mine!_ "Didn't I tell you to keep that in your mouth?" she said, pointing at the suddenly floor-bound carrot with Luna's wand and forcing herself to sound stern and scolding. But by now the act was getting harder to keep up, and Claire slipped back into being the sultry seducer as she removed her hand from Luna's knickers, smelling her arousal on her hand. "Oooh, but I can see why you did it. You're hornier than a bunny rabbit, girl! You're going to drench your knickers if you keep them on..."

With a point of the wand and a whispered _"Evanesco!"_ the knickers were gone, revealing a surprisingly thick triangle of soft blonde curls. Apparently, and quite unlike Marietta, Luna didn't bother to trim down there - not surprising, considering the lack of care she showed towards the hair on her _head__._

She offered no resistance as Claire gently pulled her down on the floor, and she was warm, and her breath was sweet as it came in small gasps, and Claire felt the thrill again, stronger and more entrancing than ever, quite overwhelming her as she proceeded to fuck Loony Lovegood on the floor of the Ravenclaw common room with only the waning moon and the blindly starting statue of Rowena Ravenclaw as witnesses.

* * *

><p>It was only afterwards that she managed to remember that this wasn't all for fun and that she was supposed to ask Luna some questions. However, Luna seemed beyond answering at the moment. She was lying limply on the floor, her eyes closed and her breath now coming in soft snores.<p>

"Wore you out, did I?" Claire muttered, stretching herself and allowing herself to bask in the afterglow for a couple of moments.

It was all too obvious that Luna had been a virgin; even in her potion-induced lustful haze, the younger girl's movements had been awkward and clumsy, although she'd responded very nicely to everything, and the long, silent, drawn-out _"Ooo-oo-ohhhh"_ as she orgasmed had been very satisfying.

Claire studied the lightly snoring Luna, letting her eyes roam all over the girl's body. She was actually very cute when she was asleep and not constantly reminding everyone how _weird _she was.

The strange feeling of tenderness vanished almost as soon as it had come, and Claire grabbed Luna's shoulders and shook her slightly. "Wake up!"

The only answer was another light snore. Only when Claire grabbed one of Luna's nipples and _pinched_, did she open her eyes with a gasp of pain, looking up with dull, drowsy eyes.

"Luna," said Claire. "I have to ask you something."

"Yes, Mummy," said Luna in a voice so far away that it was obvious she was still dreaming.

Claire bit back a sharp retort. "What do you know about Marietta's acne?"

"It was... It looks like someone's written _'SNEAK'_ on her face," said Luna after a long pause.

"Yes! Do you know who did it? It was the Weasley twins, wasn't it?"

"No, silly," Luna murmured.

"Well? Who was it?"

"Nargles..." Luna closed her eyes again.

"Nargles?" Claire groaned in frustration. Of course that lunatic would blame some idiotic creature that no-one but her had ever heard of. From the sound of it, she knew no more abut Marietta's acne than Claire herself did - and furthermore, with her obvious lack of experience, she probably wasn't even Ginny Weasley's lover.

Claire took a deep breath to calm down. "Well," she finally said, looking over at Luna, "we'll just have to find something else to use you for, don't we...?" She felt a wolfish grin form on her face. "If you can't help me with Marietta, at least you should be good for the occasional fuck..."

Luna didn't answer. She was fast asleep again.

Claire felt the old thrill again as she thought about the opportunities she had here. "Yeah," she said. "We can definitely get some use out of you. Give Marietta a rest, at least. Don't tell anyone this," she added, leaning down to whisper in Luna's ear, "but I think I'm going to seduce you again. And again. I'm going to teach you to love that cunt of yours so much, you'll want to play with it _all the time... _But before that, I suppose we had better clean you up a bit. You're much too heavy for me to carry up to your dorms, but the chair over there should be comfortable enough for one night."

A few rounds of _Scourgify_ saw Luna fresh and clean, and an _Evanesco_ took care of the horrible stockings (which were drenched with sweat and various other juices anyway). Amazingly, Luna slept through it all, and didn't even wake when Claire lifted her up and carried her over to the chair, wrapping the woolen blanket around her.

Perfect. If anyone came down here now, they would just assume that the girl had either been sleepwalking or simply come down to the common room and fallen asleep in the chair.

"And completely naked at that," Claire grinned. "This is definitely going to help your reputation as a complete lunatic. Sweet dreams, Loony." With that, she gathered up her nightgown, her wand, the half-carrot and the love potion that hadn't been necessary after all, and was just about to go remove the Silencing charms on the dorm rooms, when she got another idea. She might as well strike again at the earliest possible opportunity...

After removing the Silencing Charms on the doors, she silently entered the fifth-years' dormitory and found Luna's bed, placing a Silencing charm on the curtains around that and snuggling down under the blanket for a few hours' well-deserved sleep while she waited for Loony to wake and show up.

* * *

><p>Claire hadn't been completely certain whether Luna would be as easily dealt with a second time, especially after the potion had worn off, but she needn't have worried.<p>

When the girl came back up to her bed and woke Claire up with her asking for her wand back, it took only a few choice words and an open-mouthed kiss to get her on her back and ready to be fucked once again - even though the potion (especially since it had been such a small amount) _couldn't_ still be in effect after more than six hours.

When Luna came back from the hospital wing after Claire's creative way of 'returning her wand,' and was just as easy to get naked and moaning a third time, it just confirmed it: Somehow, seducing Luna had given Claire _power _over her. Some level of control that might just be a result of Luna's oddball personality, but was still amazingly firm.

Claire began to experiment with the control, ordering her to do more and more things. First, it was only during sex - while Luna had originally been rather passive (only a step up from a sleeping Marietta, in fact), under Claire's guidance and orders she soon became a rather active participant in their 'sessions' together, giving almost as well as she got. But soon, Claire began to gave her orders outside the sex as well: _Finish my homework, __sit perfectly still in that spot until I come and get you, __run once around the castle wearing only your robe and no underclothes, and then meet me in Greenhouse Three for a spanking._

Luna did it all without protesting.

For the first few days, Claire felt a little guilty about it. Oh, not because she felt bad for Loony Lovegood - why should she? But somehow, it felt like she was betraying Marietta or something. It was just that it was so _easy _to seduce Luna, and it made Claire feel so, well, so _powerful _to have that much control over her.

But maybe those vague feelings of guilt was a deciding factor when she finally took the step with Marietta.

It started one afternoon in her dormitory. She and Marietta were the only ones present; Marietta was sorting through her books and Claire was pretending that she was sorting through hers and not at all fantasizing about Marietta.

"So..." Marietta suddenly said in a quiet voice, "you're getting rather friendly with Loony Lovegood lately, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Claire, realizing too late that she was using the exact words that people do when they know _exactly _what is being talked about.

"Come on," said Marietta. "I'm not stupid, you know. I've noticed how Loony is following you around and doing whatever you're saying. I haven't ever known her to to what _anyone _says without asking fifty absurd questions first. What's going on?"

Claire looked at her, trying to figure out whether Marietta was condemning her behaviour or approving of it, but the girl's expression was unreadable.

"Well," she said, thinking fast. "Before I answer that, can you tell me something?"

"Er, all right."

"How many people have noticed?"

"Oh," said Marietta, looking a little relieved. "Just me, I think. Nobody really pays attention to Loony Lovegood, you know. I've noticed it because -" She paused, her cheeks turning slightly red underneath acne and makeup. "Well, it doesn't matter."

"Right," said Claire, feeling about as relieved as Marietta looked. "All right, I'll tell you." She lowered her voice. "She's a lesbian."

Marietta blinked. "She is?"

"Told me so herself. She was so ashamed of it, but it seems like she went ahead and fell in love with me." Claire smiled, a little sheepishly, and hoped the story would hold. "She had to tell me, she said, because she couldn't keep it a secret from the 'person she loved' anymore, but she knew that if she was outed, she'd be looked upon as even more loony than she already is. So when I told her I wasn't in love with her, she begged me to keep her secret."

"Oh." Marietta looked at her with huge eyes. "Loony Lovegood, a lesbian. Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but..."

"I know."

"You'd think she wouldn't care if people knew, though. She certainly doesn't care that everyone thinks she's a nutter."

"Even she has her limits." Claire shrugged. "And I think she enjoys doing what I say. In her messed-up mind, me giving orders to her translates as some kind of declaration of love. Or at least attention."

"That's a strange way of looking at it," said Marietta, frowning.

"We _are _talking about Loony Lovegood here," said Claire.

"True..." Marietta nodded. "Yes, it sort of makes sense that she'd think like that. I never pictured her as a lesbian, though. I thought she fancied that Ron Weasley or something. She talked a lot about him last year, at least."

"Yes, but that was just Loony being Loony," said Claire, feeling tremendous relief that Marietta seemed to believe her. "She talks about things, and about people. Actually, it's a little flattering that she's in love with me. Pity that she's so strange, though."

Marietta bit her lip. "My mother says it's unnatural for a girl to be in love with another girl..."

"Many people think like that," said Claire carefully, not really liking where the conversation was heading and trying to steer it in a slightly different direction. "But then, many Muggles say magic is unnatural. The ones who believe in magic, anyway, say that all magic is evil."

Marietta giggled. "You're joking."

"I'm dead serious. I grew up with Muggles, remember? I know several Muggles who would call me _'Spawn of the Devil'_ if they knew I was a witch."

"Wow," said Marietta.

"It's not like wizarding society is much better," Claire went on. "You know how many wizards shun Muggle-borns and think _they'r__e_ unnatural. You'll find prejudices everywhere."

"That's true."

"But, er, don't tell anyone I told you about Loony, all right? Not even her... I mean, I did promise."

Marietta nodded thoughtfully. "I won't tell anyone," she said. Then, she paused for a bit, looking as if she had something more to say but didn't really know how to begin.

"What is it, Marietta?" said Claire.

"You - you didn't think it was disgusting that she was in love with you?"

Claire shook her head. "I'm not in love with her of course. Heh, who would be? But it's not disgusting."

"What if..."Marietta's voice was almost inaudible. "What if it was another girl...?"

"Another girl?" said Claire.

"Yes... another girl that... was in love with you..."

Claire's heart skipped a beat. "Marietta!" she exclaimed."Are you saying -?"

"It just happened!" Marietta whimpered. "It started last year when I began having these dreams about you... not every night, but a few times a month... I'd dream that you came into my bed and... did things to me... I was so disgusted with myself every time I woke up, but... I started noticing you more, and... and... I think... I think I'm a lesbian too..." The last part came out as a barely audible whisper.

Claire could only stare. _Oh, my God_.

"You hate me," said Marietta miserably. "I shouldn't have said anything. I wrote to my mother for advice, and she replied that it was unnatural for two girls to be in love and that it was probably just a reaction to this _stupid _acne because no boy will look twice on me now and that I should just forget about it -"

"I - I don't hate you!" said Claire hurriedly. _Oh, my GOD!_ "Really, I - I was just a little startled!" _OH, MY GOD!_ It's not - it's not - You're really a lesbian?"

"I think so," said Marietta helplessly. "I just... at night, I'd dream of you... You were... you were so good to me... I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry... I didn't mean to fall in love with you... it just happened..."

_OH. MY. GOD!_ Claire swallowed, trying and failing to speak. _All those times I...! I didn't realise she'd begin dreaming about...! OH! MY! GOD!_

"Sorry," Marietta muttered. "I mean, you already have Loony Lovegood in love with you and now it's Marietta the Sneak."

"It's not that," Claire managed to croak. "It's just - would - would you hate me if I kissed you?"

"What?" Marietta's eyes were wide.

One moment later, their lips met. And the rest of the world stopped mattering for a while.

* * *

><p>The next few weeks were the happiest in Claire's life. Of course, once the first kissing was over, she had to tell Marietta how she had been in love with her since their sixth year - leaving out a few compromising details, of course.<p>

They had agreed on keeping the relationship a secret. After all, Marietta's mother would never approve of her daughter having a girlfriend, and since said mother was a Ministry official, it wouldn't take a lot of effort for anyone who wanted to hurt Marietta to find out how to contact her mother with the news.

"Particularly the Gryffindors," said Marietta gloomily. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Harry Potter and his crowd don't seem to like me. And Loony Lovegood... if _she _finds out, she'll just tell her father, and he'll print it in that _Quibbler _rag. He's always had it in for the Ministry."

"Relax," said Claire, kissing her. "I promise I won't tell."

She did anyway, in the middle of the night, while visiting Luna's dormitory. But it was all right, she reckoned, because she told the girl purely to give her strict orders to not tell anyone else.

"You're not to tell anyone about Marietta and me," she said, stroking Luna's naked body all over.

"I promise," said Luna, lying back on her bed and spreading her legs slightly.

"You're not to let on to Marietta that you know," Claire continued, concentrating on the spots she knew Luna liked best to be touched.

"I won't..." Luna murmured.

"And you're definitely not to tell Marietta, or anyone else, about _yourself _and me."

"I won't tell!" Luna gasped.

"Good. Because if you don't keep your promise, anyone who finds out will blackmail you into fucking them as well. You remember how I told you about that, don't you?"

"Mmm..."

"So no telling anyone about anything. Are we in perfect agreement?"

"...yes."

"And no getting jealous just because I start spending more time with Marietta than with you."

"Jealous?" Luna gasped. "Why would I be jealous? I'm not in love with you. I don't even like you all that ..._AH!_... much."

"Ooooh, but you like _this,_ don't you, slut?"

"Nngh."

"And _this?"_

"Yesssss...!" Luna squirmed and bucked against Claire, clenching her teeth. "Fuck, fuck, _fuck...!"_

"Promise me, then. Or I'll stop."

"I promise!" said Luna hurriedly. And heaved for her breath as she, slightly less than ten seconds later, reached her climax.

Claire's relationship with Luna changed slightly after this. While she didn't want to give it up - the feeling of power she had over the other girl was too intoxicating, and controlling Luna through sex meant that there had to be some sex involved - she toned it down enough that Marietta wouldn't get suspicious, and only occasionally (when Marietta was busy or asleep) went to seduce Luna just to remind her that no matter what, she was still Claire's naughty little slut.

This did mean that her relationship with Marietta was far less sex-filled than it might have been otherwise, which seemed to suit the much shyer Marietta. They kissed a lot, experimented with some light fondling and sometimes slept in the same bed, snuggled up close to each other, but they hadn't actually crossed the line. (Well, Claire did once Charm Marietta asleep and brought her to orgasm with _Sensualis _just because she missed how the girl sounded when she climaxed, but that hardly counted.)

It was an ideal situation, Claire thought. She was dating the world's most beautiful, desirable, wonderful girl, and didn't have to worry about her own twisted sexual desires ruining the relationship because she could do anything to Luna she couldn't bring herself to do with Marietta.

The next step, she began fantasizing, would be a threesome. Of course, first she had to work on Marietta's shyness and inhibitions, and then perhaps make it appear to her like it was her idea, possibly she could begin whisper suggestions to her while she was asleep... Yes, that would work wonders for Marietta's low self-esteem, if yet another girl, even if that other girl was Loony Lovegood, was to find her sexually desirable.

But then, before any of these plans could come to fruit, and without any warning, Luna suddenly started rebelling.

* * *

><p>It started out small; the first hint of the rebellion had been on the day when Claire, drunk with her power over Luna, had had decided to be a little extra careless and fingered the girl to orgasm during dinner, while Marietta's attentions were elsewhere.<p>

Afterwards, she had told her to stay at the dinner table and not move - but when she returned later on, Luna was gone. She didn't return to the common room until much later, and then wouldn't say where she had been, even though Claire demanded to know.

"I'm a hero," she said. "Heroes don't reveal secret information, not even if they're threatened by a wild Munchosaurus."

Claire might have chalked it up to the girl's nuttiness, which had started acting up again a lot more lately - but a few days later, she vanished for several hours, only to come back and reveal that she'd been to the hospital wing.

"Hospital wing?" said Claire. "You didn't tell me you were sick."

"I wasn't sick. I was just fulfilling a promise to a friend," was all Luna would say.

Claire was shocked to find that her control over the girl was slipping away. To remind her that theirs was not a relationship between equals, she forbade Luna to go to the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin the upcoming Saturday. She was to stay in bed, naked and waiting for Claire.

When Luna appeared at the match anyway - fully clothed and with that ridiculous lion hat of hers, too - Claire decided that it was time to teach her a lesson. And for the first time, she used the _Sensualis_ charm on Luna. Not only that, but she used the _C__ontinuare_ variant, the one that would keep the girl on the brink of orgasm but refuse to actually let her come. Figuring that a few hours of sexual torture would teach the Loony-slut her place, Claire had left her, mute and writhing in pleasure and agony.

She wondered if she might have overdone it a little when she later heard that Luna had been taken to the hospital wing and was to stay there for the rest of the weekend - but she figured that it would at least have destroyed any further thought of rebellion the younger girl might have had.

Marietta was in a terrible mood that night. "You're obsessed with Loony Lovegood," she complained as she stood by her bed and pulled on her nightdress.

"No, I'm not," said Claire, secretly cursing herself for being so obvious about it - Marietta might not be the most quick-thinking witch around, but she was dangerously perceptive sometimes.

"Don't lie to me," said Marietta. "You were watching her during the entire Quidditch match, and I know you went to talk to her afterwards. Not that I can blame you," she added, a tad bitterly. "She's a nutter, but we both know she's a lesbian, and in love with you, and she's prettier than me."

"Nobody's prettier than you," said Claire. "Certainly not Loony."

"She doesn't have _'SNEAK'_ written across her face."

"You could have the world's nastiest curse words written all over your body and still be the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Hmm," said Marietta. "Have you told her about us?"

"No, I haven't!"

"Are you sure? Because it seems a little strange how she always vanishes whenever you hint that you want some time alone with me."

_Damn_, Claire thought. "I - I swear I haven't told her," she said out loud. "I didn't forget my promise. I haven't told anyone."

Marietta sighed. "I want to believe you," she said sadly. "But I just have this feeling that you're hiding things from me..."

"I'm not," said Claire, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. "Unless you count the fact that I once stole a biscuit from the biscuit tin when I was four. I never told you about that. It's my deepest, darkest secret - I was a hardened criminal already as a child!"

Despit herself, Marietta had to chuckle. "Promise that you're not keeping anything else from me?" she said in a small voice.

"Promise," said Claire.

"All right then." Marietta sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed. "I'm sorry. I don't want to keep our relationship a secret either, but - I'm scared. My mother would go spare. She hates homosexuality, you know. Says it's unnatural and disgusting."

"Well, I don't think it is," said Claire softly. "I think it's beautiful. If your mother can't see that, she's missing out on something."

"I am your girlfriend, you know," Marietta whispered. "There shouldn't be any secrets between us... even if we have to keep our relationship a secret to the rest of the world. I trusted you with _my _biggest secret, after all..."

Once again, Claire felt a little pang of guilt.

To make up for it, she gave Marietta an extra nice, long orgasm courtesy of _Sensualis_ after she had gone to sleep. Afterwards, she lay down next to her and began whispering in her ear how much she loved her, how lucky she considered herself to have someone like Marietta, and how much she wanted them both to be happy. She knew now that while her girlfriend might not hear it with her awake mind, the word drifted into her dreams and stayed there.

After a while, she also began whispering suggestions about Luna Lovegood, and how much fun they could have with her.

Things were definitely looking up.

Two days later, they came crashing down.

* * *

><p><em>"I KNEW IT! YOU TOLD LOONY LOVEGOOD!"<em> Marietta screamed.

"I - I didn't," Claire tried to protest. She had never seen Marietta this angry before, and had already decided that it was not an experience she was eager to repeat.

_"STOP LYING!_ I talked to Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor just now, and _he _knew! He even _said _that you had told Loony!" Marietta turned to the rest of the students in the common room, looking so furious that several of them backed away. _"YOU ALL KNEW, DIDN'T YOU?"_ she snarled. "You were having _so_ much fun laughing behind my back all along, weren't you? _HA HA, MARIETTA IS A LESBIAN!_ Let's all spread rumors behind her back! When does the _Daily Prophet_ come out with the news? _'Daughter of Ministry official disowned because she's a DYKE'!_"

"Marietta," Cho began. "We didn't -"

_"Don't you talk to me!_" Marietta snapped. "I haven't asked for much, you know! All I ever wanted a girlfriend I could trust! Someone who wouldn't go blabbing about me to the daughter of _The Quibbler_'s editor! _WELL, FUCK YOU, CLAIRE! FUCK ALL OF YOU!__"_

With that, she stormed out of the room. Nobody made a move to follow her.

Finally, Padma Patil looked to Claire. "Were you really her girlfriend?" was all she said.

"Can't exactly deny that now, can I?" Claire muttered.

"She hasn't really been herself since they placed that Memory Charm on her," said Cho quietly. "She's been a lot more moody... almost unstable. But I've never seen her like this."

"What Memory Charm?" said Claire.

"It was... Oh, it doesn't matter!" said Cho, a little more harshly than before. "You'd think that someone's been messing around with her brain again, though, the way she blew up at everyone. I've never seen her _this _bad."

Claire suddenly felt even worse than before.

* * *

><p>Now, three days later, as she watched Luna and Potter walk down the hallway to that damn party, she still felt pretty awful about everything, but as usual, the feeling of guilt had faded after a couple of days.<p>

_The ones that are really to blame, _she thought bitterly, _are Loony Lovegood and Neville Longbottom._

All right, maybe Claire shouldn't have started planting suggestions in Marietta's mind - she'd have to take at least that part of the blame - but Loony had deliberately broken her promise by telling Longbottom about her and Marietta. And that idiot Longbottom had decided to talk to Marietta about it. If it hadn't been for them, Claire would still have had Marietta as her girlfriend, and everyone would have been happy.

Marietta had calmed down after Madam Pomfrey had given her a powerful Draught of Peace, but she was still furious with Claire and refused to talk to her. And the worst part was that Claire couldn't really blame her.

Not _her._ Marietta was completely innocent in all this.

Loony and Longbottom, though... Oh, they would _pay._ As soon as Claire found a good way of getting revenge on them without evoking the rage of Luna's new boyfriend, Harry Potter.

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>Yes, Claire is creepy. When I first started writing her, I had no idea _how _creepy she was, but she ended up surprising me a lot. Needless to say, her opinion of things do _not _represent mine.

I ended up feeling really sorry for Marietta Edgecombe, who originally wasn't even going to be in this story, but became a rather large part of it, in the process becoming a very tragic character - a weak person who ended up manipulated and used not only by Claire, but by the canon characters as well (Umbridge's handling of her, Kingsley's Memory Charm, Hermione's _'SNEAK'_ hex) without ever really knowing how or why she was being used. Breaking up with Claire was probably the smartest thing she could do; though Claire did love Marietta in her own twisted way, that relationship would no doubt have destroyed her if it was allowed to continue.

I hope you enjoyed this little look at the story from different perspective. The next chapter will be up on Thursday, and will center on Neville and Luna again... and it'll also have special guest appearances by Fred and George Weasley, Xenophilius Lovegood and Augusta Longbottom! (...no, not in a sexual way...)


	5. Planning Ahead Over Christmas

_And here's chapter five! A few pieces of the dialogue in this chapter is blatantly swiped from "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." You'll probably recognize them when you see them._

_In this chapter, Christmas holidays come around, and with the extra breather they've been given, Neville and Luna are making plans to deal with Claire... but will it be enough?_

* * *

><p><strong>BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO<strong>

**Based on the _Harry Potter_ books by J. K. Rowling.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER FIVE:<br>Planning Ahead Over Christmas**

* * *

><p><em>"Potter loves Loony! Potter luuurves Loony!"<em> sang Peeves gleefully as he soared through the castle, cackling all the way.

"We're just going as friends, you know," said Luna, looking up as the poltergeist passed her for the fifth time that day. But she was smiling as she said it. She had been smiling almost continuously for an entire day.

It had come completely out of the blue.

Purely by chance, shortly before the Christmas holidays, Luna had come over Hermione Granger in one of the girls' restrooms, crying over something Ron Weasley had either said or done - Luna never found out just which it was.

While Hermione had never been one of Luna's favourite people in the world (she had annoyed Luna more than once by scoffing at _T__he Quibbler_ or stubbornly insisting that Luna was delusional), she wasn't really a bad sort, so Luna had decided to try and comfort her a little.

She'd borrowed Neville's technique and spent a minute or so stroking Hermione's hair, but unfortunately it didn't seem like Hermione had liked it very much. She had, however, managed to compose herself at least a little and agreed to come out of the restroom while Luna patted her on the back.

Directly outside the restroom they'd run into Harry, who seemed to have been looking for Hermione. At least, that was what Luna assumed, since he was carrying a bunch of Hermione's things and handing them to her as soon as he saw her. Why he'd dyed one of his eyebrows yellow was completely beyond Luna, but she'd noticed that he sometimes did strange things.

Hermione didn't seem interested in talking to him, though; she politely excused herself after receiving her things, hurrying off. And Luna strongly suspected she was going off somewhere else to cry some more.

"She's a bit upset," she informed Harry. "I thought at first it was Moaning Myrtle in there, but it turned out to be Hermione. She said something about that Ron Weasley..."

"Yeah, they've had a row," said Harry, looking weary. Luna had the distinct impression that Ron and Hermione had had a lot of rows lately, and that Harry was quite sick of it. She felt sympathetic; it couldn't be much fun to have two best friends who constantly fought.

They set down the corridor together, and as Harry didn't seem to be too interested in talking about Ron or Hermione, they ended up talking about Luna instead, and how her year had been.

Flattered that he was taking an interest, but deciding against talking about Claire, she instead told him how she missed the DA, and how Ginny had stopped two boys from using the 'Loony' nickname the other day, and she was just about to talk about her developing friendship with Neville -

- when the question suddenly came. "How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?" he'd said, just like that.

She felt her heart skip a beat. She'd heard about Slughorn's party, of course; the new Potions teacher seemed to like having these get-togethers with students who were either famous or exceptional in some way. It was no surprise that Harry was invited to the party, but for him to ask _her...!_

He seemed to be just as surprised as her that he had asked, and hurried to add that he would be taking her there _'just as friends.'_ And that made the entire thing even better. Harry was a good and honest sort, and he would never have said that he only wanted to be friends if he didn't really want to be friends.

"I'd love to go with you as friends!" she beamed, feeling a wonderfully warm sensation spread inside her. "Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I do mine too?"

Of course, Peeves overheard them, and for several hours afterwards, he flew about the castle, singing about how Potty and Loony were a couple now. It wasn't strictly the truth, but it still felt much less annoying than she'd have thought.

She got to tell Neville and Ginny about it before Peeves managed to give them any wrong ideas about the party, anyway, and that was the most important thing.

"This is brilliant!" said Ginny, looking almost as happy as Luna felt. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"Yes!" said Luna. "It means that I get to go to a party as friends! I've never done that before! Should I dye my eyebrows, you think?"

"No," said Ginny with a laugh. "What I meant was that when word gets out that Harry took you to the Christmas party, the Ravenclaws are bound to let up on you!"

"You really think so?" said Neville dubiously.

"Of course," said Ginny. "You don't think that a smart lot like the Ravenclaws would risk agitating the 'Chosen One' by harassing his girlfriend, now do you?"

"But I'm not Harry's girlfriend," Luna pointed out. "I would have known if I were."

"I know that, but it won't really matter what you or Harry say about it," said Ginny. "Rumour is going to be that you _are _his girlfriend."

"Oh," said Luna. "Shouldn't I tell him that?"

"Oh, he knows," said Ginny. "He's had to deal with this sort of thing for years."

"Lucky this didn't happen last year, when everyone thought he was insane and unstable, then," Neville murmured. "Although, come to think of it, they might have been even less keen on bothering his girlfriend then..."

Luna turned to him. "I wish you could come to the party as friends too," she said solemnly. "It would be even more fun if you were there."

"I don't think Harry would want to take me," said Neville with a weak smile. "No telling what kinds of rumours that would start."

Ginny laughed. After a moment or two, so did Luna. "I do wish you could come along, though."

Neville fidgeted. "I don't do so well at parties," he said. "And Professor Slughorn... well, he's nice enough, but I don't think he thinks very highly of me. He probably doesn't feel I live up to the, er, legacy of my parents."

Luna looked at him. Neville hardly ever talked about his family, but after she had told him the story of her mother's death, he had briefly told her about how his parents had been highly-respected Aurors who were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters. They were still at St. Mungo's to this very day. Knowing this, a lot of things about Neville suddenly made a lot more sense.

"I think they'd be proud of you," she informed him

He smiled again, and she was surprised to see that his face had gone slightly red; it hardly ever did that anymore. "Well... you just go and have a good time at the party, all right?" he said. "Tell me what it was like afterwards."

"Would it make you happy if I had a good time?" asked Luna hopefully.

"Er, of course." He looked at her, a little oddly. "Shouldn't it?"

"In that case I'll make sure to have an extra good time!" she exclaimed, and then, because it seemed like the natural thing to do, kissed him on the cheek.

When she left the room with Ginny to find her dress robes and 'doll herself up a little,' as her mother had used to put it, she could see in the corner of her eye that he was touching the spot she had kissed, with a bright red face and a sheepish smile.

And the party turned out to be just as much fun as she had hoped. The perfect way, in fact, to end the term before Christmas.

* * *

><p>After the girls had left, and Neville was absolutely sure his face had returned to it's normal colour, he decided to walk back to the Gryffindor tower to see whether he had remembered to pack everything he needed for his trip home for Christmas - and make sure Trevor wasn't getting the urge to start wandering. Even though the toad was a lot calmer in the winter and generally happy to stay in the dorm room, you never knew if he'd suddenly get the idea to take a little trip and stay away for a few days, and Neville didn't want to leave him behind at Hogwarts for Christmas.<p>

As he reached the seventh floor, though, and was just about to walk down the corridor towards the painting of the Fat Lady, he heard a noise behind him and instinctively turned around to look.

There, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere (at least giving no signs of being out of breath from having climbed all those stairs), stood Claire Savelle.

"Longbottom," she said, making his name sound almost like a curse word.

"Er, yes, hello," he answered. "If you'll excuse me, I - I have to go pack for..."

"You cost me my girlfriend, Longbottom," she growled, her voice low and quiet but with an unmistakable air of menace to it that made him immediately - as subtly as possible - check his pocket to make sure he still had his wand.

"Er," said Neville again. "Look, if you're talking about my, er, conversation with Marietta a few days ago -"

"She's very fragile, you know." Claire began slowly walking towards him, keeping her voice silent. "And her mother is not the most accepting of witches. If she ever found out that her daughter was a lesbian... well," she added, making a sort of _'fill in the blanks yourself'_ motion with her hands. "But you didn't think of that, did you?"

"I really didn't know," said Neville, taking a few steps backwards to keep some distance between them. "And - and besides, I wasn't going to tell her mother! I haven't told _anyone!"_

"Really?" Claire shook her head, smiling sardonically. "That's funny. _She _certainly thinks you have. You and Loony Lovegood -"

"Her name is _Luna!"_ Neville squealed, trying to get the same kind of fierceness in his voice that Ginny Weasley was so good at.

Claire snorted. "And don't think I'm going to let _Loony_ off the hook either," she said, stressing the cruel nickname. "I could tell you a lot of interesting things about her too, you know. Marietta and I aren't the only lesbians in Ravenclaw..."

"I know," said Neville. He swallowed several times to keep his tongue from going completely out of control. "I know that Luna likes girls as well, she told me..."

Apparently, and for some strange reason, she hadn't expected that one. She stopped dead in her tracks and blinked. "She told you that? About herself?"

"She told me a lot of things," said Neville, taking a few more steps back just in case. Maybe it was time to get a bit more on the offensive in this dialogue; but it wouldn't hurt to have some extra running space. "Luna's my_ friend,_ Savelle! You didn't think nobody would notice how you've been treating her this term, did you?"

"I..." Claire's eyes narrowed again. "Oh yes, of course! It makes sense now. She's been shagging _you,_ hasn't she? That's why she's been acting up! I didn't think she went for boys at all, but _you_ got to her! Convinced her to try fucking a _'man'_ for variety, did you?"

"I -" Neville paused, just about to tell her that she was completely off-course and that he had never even touched Luna that way, when he changed his mind. "Maybe I did and maybe I didn't," he said, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible. "At least I never tried two-timing anyone. Did Marietta know about you and Luna?"

The glare Claire sent him was more than enough to make him wish that he'd kept his mouth shut. "Think you're bloody clever, don't you?" she hissed, her mask of calm vanishing. "I'm warning you, Longbottom - keep playing with fire and you'll get burned."

Neville tried backing away further, but found that he had miscalculated his direction and foolishly backed up against the wall. Before he could change direction and go down the corridor instead, she was against him, blocking both his possible escape routes with her arms.

"And if you don't stop sticking your nose into other people's business," she continued, her voice once again calmer, "you never know... I might find out that you need to be taught a lesson as well. How about it, Longbottom? Fancy to, oh, I don't know, have Professor Snape walk in on you when you're fucking your darling Luna? I can arrange for that to happen, you know. Or maybe her new boyfriend, Harry Potter, would be interested in seeing just what the two of you get up to in private."

"I -" Neville began.

"Oh, you don't think I could make it happen? Think you'll be able to keep your hands off her?" Claire grinned coldly, and continued, in a whisper and with a threatening sub-tone that would have made Professor Snape proud: "You have no idea how much magic there's out there designed to make people want to fuck... A few drops of love potion in your breakfast cereal, perhaps... a quick lust-inducing charm on the both of you... And before you know it, you're both expelled from Hogwarts. If you survive Potter, that is."

Neville didn't answer. He was too busy regretting not keeping his stupid mouth shut and wasn't particularly eager to get himself deeper into trouble by saying even more stupid things.

_You shouldn't let her intimidate you like this,_ he thought to himself. _You wouldn't let Bellatrix Le__s__trange boss you around like this, and she is much, much more dangerous than Claire Savelle could ever hope to be!_

It might have worked, if he had found himself able to believe himself when he claimed those things. As it was, he chose the coward's way out: Breaking her hold, he ran away as fast as he could, down the corridor and all the way to the Gryffindor common room..

He spent the remaining night at Hogwarts completely unable to sleep; both worrying about Claire's less-than-subtle threats and wishing more than ever that he had been someone else; someone who could deal with such threats.

* * *

><p>Over the holidays, he kept repeating the scene in his head, cursing himself for being such a fool and thinking of all the things he <em>could<em> have said and done... But of course, it was all too late. There's no such thing as a second chance in these situations; once something is done, it's irrevocably done, and no magic can undo it.

He tried not to let this get him down. At least not enough to raise his grandmother's suspicions. He managed pretty well too, and she didn't seem to notice anything - until Christmas Day.

Generally, all of Neville's Christmas holidays followed the same routine: Gran would come and pick him up at King's Cross, and they'd return home to a Christmas-decorated house and have dinner, while he told her about his term and listened to her rant-topic-of-the-year (this year, it was her disappointment that he had chosen Charms instead of Transfiguration for his NEWT classes). The next couple of days they'd spend preparing for the big family dinner on Christmas Eve, when Great Uncle Algie and Great Aunt Enid, usually accompanied by a few other distant relatives, would visit - and then, on Christmas Day, Neville and Gran would always go to St. Mungo's and see Neville's parents.

As far back as he could remember, Neville had both loved and hated these visits. He was always glad to see his parents, but - well, it hurt a little, too. Often, he'd fantasized about what it would be like to have parents that were sane and well, and could be with him all the time like a proper family. But fantasies had never helped him with anything.

This year, he couldn't help but wonder, as he gently talked to his mother (who as usual showed no sign that she even knew who she was), if they would have been able to help him with his predicament. He had never really had anyone to go to for advice - at least not someone he felt he could trust not to look down on him for not managing things himself - but the situation with Luna and Claire was getting so hopelessly complicated that he could really have used a mother or a father to advice him.

Probably this was what clued Gran in.

"Out with it, Neville," she said after they had returned home.

"Out with what?" said Neville.

"Whatever it is that's bothering you," said Gran, placing her hands on her hips and giving him her _Look,_ the one that always pierced right through him. "There was obviously something wrong with you at St. Mungo's today. You're not ashamed of your parents again, are you?"

"No..." Neville had long since given up explaining to her that he had never been ashamed of his parents, but that he didn't feel it necessary to tell everyone about them and just look like he was fishing for pity.

"Well, then?" The_ Look_ intensified.

Gran was an impressive witch and had always been extremely good at being overwhelming. She had her distinct opinions on everything (many of them, sadly, being about Neville and what Neville should be like) and was never afraid to voice them, or even enforce them physically, if that was necessary. Neville had sometimes thought that if You-Know-Who ever met her and encountered her _Look,_ he'd quickly find that Albus Dumbledore wasn't the only one he should fear.

"Neville," said Gran, in a voice that tolerated no arguments. "I have lived for one-hundred and thirty-three years. I've experienced two wizarding wars, not counting the one we're entering now, raised one son and one grandson, buried two husbands and a considerable number of other relatives, and - believe it or not - I spent seven of my formative years as a student of Hogwarts, just like you. Whatever it is you're going through, don't presume to tell me that I wouldn't understand!"

That wasn't really very encouraging at all, but Neville couldn't think of any other excuses. "Er, Gran..." he began, wondering how to start this. "If you've - I mean - look, have you ever known someone who, er, was attracted to - people of their own sex?"

Gran's _Look_ immediately vanished, replaced by an expression of shock. "Neville!" she exclaimed. "Are you telling me that you're -?"

"No! No!" said Neville, much too late realising just how that had sounded. "It's not me! It's, er, well, it's complicated. You remember Luna Lovegood, right? She was in the battle of the Department of Mysteries," he added hopefully.

Gran nodded slowly, as if something suddenly dawned on her. "I see," she said. "You have fallen for Luna Lovegood, but she turned you down, because she prefers girls. Well, we weren't nearly as open about such things in my day, but the Lovegoods have always been strange. I seem to remember that her mother -"

"It's not that," said Neville miserably.

"Well, what _is _it, then?"

And then he told her everything. How he had noticed Claire's sexual abuse of Luna, how he had decided that telling the teachers would just lead to trouble and instead managed to get Luna to stand up for herself, how Claire had threatened him just before the holidays. He didn't leave out anything, not even the story of Marietta - and he felt vaguely guilty about the small pleasure it was to see the look of complete surprise on Gran's face. He had never actually been able to shock her before.

After the tale was done, Gran sat in silence for a long time.

"Well," she finally said. "This is certainly a situation, Neville."

He nodded.

"Of course, had it been your father, he would never have allowed this girl to push him or his friends around," she continued, a bit more sternly. "He would have confronted the girl, and he would have done it properly. None of this mucking about and letting her threaten him."

"I know..."

"He would have threatened to turn her into a newt if she didn't behave. Your father did take the Transfiguration NEWTs, after all!"

Neville sighed.

"However," Gran continued, "at least you had the good sense not to inform the teachers about it. Yes, Neville," she added as he looked at her with surprise, "I completely agree with you that ratting them out to the teachers would just have created more problems than it solved. Even if your friend wasn't expelled from Hogwarts, well, these things have a tendency to spread nasty rumours. Keeping the entire thing a secret was probably the smartest thing you could have done in this situation."

"Oh..." said Neville, taken aback at this. Gran _approved _of what he had done?

"But you need to remember that you're a Longbottom!" said Gran. "The Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor for a _reason_, and it's about time you realised that!"

Neville wasn't used to this kind of praise from Gran, not even when it was presented in such a roundabout way as here. Usually it was more along the line of _"yo__u're a good boy, Neville, but...__"_ and then some reminder of one or more of his many flaws.

"You're a good boy, Neville," said Gran (oh yes, here it came...). "You obviously care a great deal for your friend. But you have to start showing some _backbone!_ Remember your Gryffindor spirit, young man! I know you have it, or you wouldn't have gone to the Department of Mysteries last year! I was so _proud_ of you - finally, I thought, you were coming into your own! My boy, fighting against Death Eaters and even You-Know-Who himself! And now you're telling me you're afraid of a mere seventh-year Hogwarts student?"

"I can't fight her," said Neville. "She'd flatten me completely. She's one of the best witches in her year, and I'm..." he let his voice trail away, not really feeling like listing up his own failures.

But Gran wasn't having any of it. "Get help! You've already recruited three people, why stop there? There are other people at Hogwarts who know the Gryffindor spirit! What about Harry Potter, for example?"

"Harry's... busy these days," Neville murmured, thinking that Gran was a little more obsessed with that wretched battle in the Department of Mysteries than he liked. "He has more important things to think of than -"

"Neville...!" Gran frowned. "If you're not even going to _t__ry,_ you might as well walk up to this Claire Savelle and start kissing her feet."

He didn't really have an answer to that, but the words stayed with him all through the holidays, as he tried to figure out something - _anything_ - that would help him and Luna get Claire Savelle off their backs, preferably without involving any teachers.

No matter what Gran said, though, he couldn't ask Harry to get involved. Harry might be the Boy Who Lived, but after having known him for more than five years, Neville knew as well as anyone that even Harry couldn't be everywhere and do everything - and he really had enough to worry about without Neville adding to it.

For much the same reason, asking Ron or Hermione for help was a non-option. There was, of course, other Gryffindors, like Lavender Brown or Parvati Patil, but he didn't think any of them cared enough about Luna, or him, to be very helpful.

It wasn't until after New Years' that he got the idea.

* * *

><p><em>Weasley's Wizard Wheezes<em> was, to Neville's great relief, almost empty that morning. He'd decided to get an early start, in the hope that most of the customers were using their holidays or sleeping in, and had Flooed over to Diagon Alley around nine in the morning.

He'd only been to visit the Weasley twins' joke shop once, during Summer holiday the year before, and then it had been so crowded with people that he hadn't managed to get a very good look at the merchandise (he hadn't even seen whether the twins had started putting Spynoculars out for sale yet).

But this time, as he entered, the only person in sight was a sleepy-looking George Weasley, sitting behind the counter and wearing those magenta robes that looked absolutely horrible on him. For a moment, Neville wondered if whichever of the twins had picked out the staff robes was colour-blind, but he shoved that thought away as George looked up and spotted him.

"Why, hello there, Neville!" he cried out, raising himself and smiling widely. "What's a nice boy like you doing in a disreputable place like this?" He fixed Neville with a mock-stern glance. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"School doesn't start until next week," said Neville, trying to return the smile, but feeling a little overwhelmed at the over-enthusiastic greeting. The Weasley twins did have a tendency to make him feel like that; they were simply too energetic for him to comfortably deal with at times. "Er, didn't Ron tell you? He can't have gone back to Hogwarts yet, can he?"

"Oh, Ron never tells me or Fred anything," said George airily. "Unless you count telling us what big gits we are, he tells us _that _all the time. Wouldn't put it past him to leave for Hogwarts without even saying goodbye to his older brothers, who always look out for him and never think of anything but what's best for him." He grinned, evidently biting back a chuckle. "But now that you mention it, I do have a vague memory of hearing him snoring as we left the Burrow this morning."

"Well, either it was him, or one of those Muggle chainsaws Dad keeps out in the shed," said Fred, who came walking up to them from another part of the shop. "Ever _heard _those things? It's a wonder not all Muggles are deaf!"

"It's a wonder nobody in our family is deaf, with Ron in the house," said George. "But enough about Ron. What can we do for you, Neville?"

"Yeah, maybe you need a few things for the new school term?" said Fred. "Couple of tricks to make the harsh life of Hogwarts a bit less stressful?"

"Yes, sorta," Neville answered. "You, you, well, you're still selling those Shield Hats and Cloaks, right?"

Fred and George exchanged looks. "Of course," said Fred. "Big sellers, those. But why are you, of all people, asking about them? Don't tell me that you've forgotten how to do a basic Shield Charm?"

"Yeah," George added. "We saw you at it during the DA meetings, and -"

"No, no, no," said Neville hurriedly, discovering to his embarrassment that all the carefully-planned-out words he'd had ready for this were rushing out of his mind quicker than a top-trimmed Firebolt. "This isn't - it's, well, I, er -"

"Well, spit it out, Neville," said George. "The way you keep going on, a bloke might think you've gone and got yourself into some kind of trouble."

"A bloke might be right," Neville muttered. "I mean -" he paused, taking a deep breath. "Look, I've got a somewhat unusual request for you. It's sort of a secret, er, weapon I want you to, er, try developing. I'll pay for it, of course," he added quickly. "I have some money saved, and -"

"Wait, wait, 'secret weapon'?" said George, holding up both hands. _"You_ want us to develop a _weapon_ for you? For use at _Hogwarts?"_

"Should we call the Aurors at once," said Fred, "or just ask '_who the hell are you, and what have you done with Neville Longbottom?'"_

"Okay, not an actual weapon," Neville murmured. "More like something along the line of - that is - I've, well, Luna and I, we've had a few close calls with this, this older student who's been harassing Luna..."

The twins exchanged looks again.

"Suppose you tell us exactly what it is you want," George finally said, "and we'll tell you whether we think we can help. Deal?"

"All right," said Neville, trying to pull himself together. "I need something that's a bit like those Shield Hats, but, well, it has to be a bit different, too..."

With a few more false starts, the words finally came back to him, and he was able to lay out for the twins exactly what it was he was after and why. Like with Ginny and the others, he left out the exact nature of the _'Ravenclaw's harassment of Luna'_ - it wasn't that he didn't trust Fred and George to keep a secret, but he wasn't sure if they could have managed to resist the many jokes that would have presented themselves along with the information that Luna was a lesbian.

Both of them listened intently, and Neville was relieved to see the spark of mischief appear in their eyes as he described the item he wanted. After all - if they thought his idea was funny, they'd be sold at once.

"Why, Neville," said Fred in the end. "I believe you've just gone and presented us with a bit of a challenge!"

"But - could you make a thing like that?" asked Neville.

"Tricky..." Fred paused, rubbing his chin theatrically. "But yes, I think we can. What do you say, George? Take him up on it?"

"Oh, we'll have to," said George, nodding with exaggerated self-importance. "Why, our honour as pranksters would demand nothing less!"

"We have honour? When did we get that?"

"We've always had honour, oh brother of mine. Just because it's hard to find doesn't mean it's not there. Why, when you get to be my age, you'll see that -"

_"Your age?_ I'm half an hour older than you, young whippersnapper!"

"Yeah, but I matured quicker than you, so I'm definitely your elder, _and_ better, when it comes to wisdom."

"My better when it comes to spouting out a lot of complete tosh, more like."

"That as well." George grinned and turned back to Neville. "All right, Neville, we'll do it. It might take some time, though. There's bound to be a few difficulties in the development, and we do have the business to take care of as well, so we can't dedicate all our time to this project. Might take a couple of months, at worst. Will you and Luna be all right until then?"

Neville wasn't quite sure that they would, but he nodded anyway. "Thank you for doing this," he said.

"Oh, anything for a fellow Gryffindor!" said George cheerfully. "We'll contact you when it's done, okay?"

When Neville left the shop, he felt that he could be at least cautiously optimistic about the future. Hopefully, as long as Harry was still thought to be Luna's boyfriend, and as long as he and Luna were careful and didn't provoke Claire, the older Ravenclaw would probably be careful about doing anything too drastic. With a bit of luck, the Weasley twins would have come through by the time the truth came out.

It was with a considerably lighter heart, and a solemn promise to Gran to inform her how the Luna situation developed, that he returned to Hogwarts a few days later.

* * *

><p>Luna had a wonderful Christmas holiday, even if it did contain at least one very unexpected surprise.<p>

As always, her father had closed down his office for the Christmas in order to avoid the dreaded Christmas Week Craxiot (a curious bird-like creature which, come Christmas Week, would find the most productive newspaper publisher around and keep him awake for the entire week with horrible knock-knock jokes - which was why the editor of the _Daily Prophet_ always seemed so cranky and stressed in his editorials during this week), and so, Luna and her father had an entire week in which they both did exactly as they liked.

They went for long walks in the snow, they spent hours talking about their trip to Sweden and the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, they made their traditional infusion of Gurdyroots (which neither of them liked, but was fun to offer guests), and tried to out-do each other in who could come up with the most original Christmas decoration.

This year, Luna won the competition, even though her decoration didn't have anything to do with Christmas at all: After having read about the famous Muggle painter, Michael Anchovy (or whatever his name was), whose most famous work included the beautiful paintings on the ceiling of an Italian church, she had spent hours decorating her own ceiling by carefully painting a picture of Neville's face there.

She was so satisfied with the result that she decided to keep it there even after the holidays were over - and maybe if she had the time during the Summer, she'd paint Ginny there as well, and Harry, and maybe even Ron and Hermione. Having friends to watch over you while you slept probably made for sweet dreams, she thought.

Her father did tease her a little about a "boyfriend" when he saw the painting, but he was impressed enough with it to declare her the winner of the decoration competition.

The "boyfriend" remark made her think a little, though. While she somehow didn't think it quite appropriate to tell Daddy about having spent a good part of her year being Claire Savelle's "naughty little slut" and repeatedly fucking another girl, she nevertheless felt she had to be honest enough to say _something _along the lines of perhaps liking girls a little better than what was strictly normal for a girl her age.

"Daddy," she said over dinner the same day. "There was something I wanted to ask you about this 'boyfriend' business..."

Yes?" Xenophilius Lovegood looked up from his soup.

"You wouldn't be terribly mad at me if I decided to get a _gir__l_friend instead, would you?"

Xenophilius put his spoon down and looked at her. For a long time he didn't say anything, and Luna started to get a little worried that he _would _be mad at her - but then he smiled. It was a strangely sad smile, but there was no anger or disappointment in it. "Luna, love, forgive me," he said softly. "I always did say you took after your mother, I just never realised you took after her in _that _respect too."

"Mummy liked girls?" said Luna, surprised.

Her father nodded solemnly. "She had quite an eye for the ladies, as I recall. She even had a few girlfriends back in the day - but that was before your time of course. After we married, she only had eyes for me..."

For a moment, they were both lost in their memories of the woman that was taken away from them so early.

Luna was the first to snap out of it. She didn't want to cry, not now. "We'll see her again," she said. "Just think of all the interesting stories she'll have for us then."

Her father looked like he was far away for a moment. He probably was, Luna thought, maybe listening to the stories her mother would tell him when they met again. But then he seemed to wake up, and when he smiled at her again it as without sadness. "We'll have a few for her as well," he said. "But yes, love, she always found women quite attractive, and she never did anything to hide it. That was one reason why a lot of people thought her a little odd. You know how narrow-minded people can be when confronted with things they don't consider _'normal__.__'_ "

Luna nodded. "It's like the Craxiot, or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

"Yes, but even worse." Xenophilius's expression was serious. "With the Snorkack and the Craxiot, they just scoff and say they don't exist, and while they remain willfully blind to the world around them, they at least aren't hurting anyone but themselves. But when a fellow human being comes along and doesn't conform to their parochial ideas of how the world should be, they can't very well pretend that person doesn't exist - so instead they react with scorn and intolerance. They're quite willing to let others suffer, even to _ensure _they suffer, rather than opening their minds and accepting that their own narrow-mindedness isn't the most important thing in the universe. And that, love, is the worst thing of all."

"Poor Mummy," said Luna. "Were they very horrible to her?"

"A few of them were," said Xenophilius. "But she tended to feel pity for them more than anything. She used to say that there were so many kinds of love in the world, and when people tried to narrow it down to one or two kinds that were acceptable, they were only denying themselves the chance to experience great beauty."

Luna thought about this for a moment, but she couldn't in all honesty classify what she and Claire had gone through as 'great beauty.' It had been nice, at least sometimes, but... Well, maybe if it had been someone aside from Claire, someone Luna actually liked, it _would_ have been beautiful.

Her father straightened himself and picked his spoon back up. "Of course, she never did meet a woman she wanted to spend her life with. In the end, she chose me, and that, too, was beautiful."

"So," said Luna thoughtfully, "it's possible for a girl to like girls, and still like boys at the same time? I did wonder about that."

"Yes, love, it's very much possible." Her father reached out over the table and took her hand in his. "I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. No matter what might happen otherwise, it won't change the _person _you are. And you are a very special person, Luna - with you taking so much after your mother, how could you be otherwise? Don't let the narrow-minded ones fool you into thinking otherwise."

They stayed like this for a few seconds, before he let go of her hand and returned to his soup. "So," he said after another mouthful, "you're seeing a _girl_, then?"

"Nor really," she answered, not wanting to lie. "At least, not _conventionally_ so. I don't think I'll see her much more anyway. We didn't make for a very good couple."

"Not everyone does," said Xenophilius sagely. "If the Silver Thread does not connect, then there's nothing anyone can do about it. But whatever you decide, don't be ashamed of it, and don't think I would be angry with you for it. I've always been proud of you, and I always will be."

And no more was said on the subject.

Luna did wonder briefly whether her mother had ever had girlfriends at Hogwarts, perhaps even sneaking around and having sex with them _in the very same places_ that Claire had dragged Luna to - but after only a few seconds' thought, she decided that she'd rather not know. There were some secrets parents should be allowed to have for themselves.

_But,_ Luna thought,_ what __**would **__Mummy have done if she was in the same situation as me? She would probably have decided to prepare a bit more against Claire, for the next time she tried something._

Even though she had decided never to do anything with Claire again, Luna wasn't foolish enough to assume that Claire would just accept this. Ginny might be right that the older girl would back off with the rumours about Harry being Luna's boyfriend going around, but that wouldn't last. When the holidays were over, she could get together with Neville and perhaps see if he had any ideas for dealing with Claire.

* * *

><p>Afterwards, Luna wasn't completely sure if it had been her or Neville that came up with the idea - maybe they'd thought of it together, actually - but shortly after the Christmas holidays were over and the school term had started, she and Neville decided that they should at least do something to prepare for an eventual confrontation with Claire.<p>

Neville had said something about a plan that he was working on, or someone else was working on for him, but would take a bit of time, and that they should make do with what they could in the meantime.

So, once a week (generally Sunday afternoons, when there wasn't so much other work to be done), they'd get together in the Room of Requirement for a spot of extra practice. They practiced shielding spells, jinxes and counter-curses, as well as spending some time experimenting a bit with the Room itself to figure out what it could and couldn't provide for them.

It was Neville who found out most of it, exclaiming that it would be good to know these things if they ever felt the need to hide out in the Room of Requirement for some reason. The only thing he couldn't figure out was how to get the Room to provide food or drink - but as he said, it wasn't all that likely that they'd ever have to stay in there for so long that they were in any danger of starving anyway.

"It's kind of like we're keeping up the spirit of the DA, isn't it?" said Luna after one training session.

"Yeah... too bad nobody else seems to be interested in it," Neville answered with a small sigh. "Truth be told, I'd rather have the DA teaching me Defense against the Dark Arts than sit through more of Snape's Defense classes. That man is just awful."

"I think he's a vampire," said Luna thoughtfully. "You know, I met a vampire at Slughorn's Christmas party, and he was a little like Professor Snape. A little taller and thinner, maybe, with dark shadows under his eyes, but otherwise he was pretty similar. Maybe Professor Snape is so grumpy all the time because he really wants to take a bite out of all the students, but isn't allowed to."

Neville shook his head. "But I've seen Snape out in the daylight before," he said.

"Yes, but he is a Potions master," Luna pointed out. "He could easily be brewing some of that sunscreen potion that you rub on your skin so you don't get burned."

"You know, that's a very good point," said Neville with a careful smirk. "Would explain a lot about him."

Luna's spirits soared. The sensation of having someone, who wasn't her father, to do things like this with - to actually discuss her theories with and not have them automatically scoff at her - was a very pleasant one.

Add to this the fact that the other Ravenclaws were leaving her alone for the most part, and that many Gryffindors and even a few Hufflepuffs were growing friendlier with her, and Luna was beginning to think that despite the steadily-increasing work load for her OWLs, and the constant threat of You-Know-Who looming over the world in general, she had never had such a good year.

* * *

><p>That night she decided to go to bed early. Tomorrow was Monday, and she wanted to be rested for the new school week (besides, a few of those jinxes had been a little tiring to perform). Her dorm room was empty, but it seemed like someone had been there recently, even been by her bed, because a small, white paper bag was lying on her nightstand.<p>

Curiously, she picked the bag up and found that it was half-full of white hard sweets that smelled deliciously of peppermint.

She hadn't bought any peppermints lately. It had to be one of her dorm-mates who had placed the bag on Luna's bed by mistake. She was about to put it down again when she realised that something was written on the bag.

She squinted and turned it around to read.

_Dear Luna,_

_Thank you for believing in us. Here's a little present as a token of our gratitude. Have one, they're lovely before bedtime._

_Signed,  
>The Blibbering Humdingers.<em>

Luna couldn't stop a small, excited gasp from escaping her. She hadn't even known the Blibbering Humdingers could write! Imagine Daddy's surprise when she told him; it would mean a complete breakthrough in the Blibbering Humdinger research -

Then again, she thought with considerable less enthusiasm, this could easily be just another prank by some of the other Ravenclaws. Maybe the peppermints were picked out from those Skiving Snackboxes from _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, _and would make her faint, or vomit, or something like that?

Then again _again_, she couldn't remember any of those Skiving Snackboxes containing anything peppermint... and she did very much love sweets...

After a bit of internal debate, she decided to have just one before undressing. If she started feeling sick, she could rush up to the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey would probably even be relieved that it wasn't anything sexually-related this time.

With this comforting thought, she chose a peppermint and put it in her mouth, discovering to her pleasant surprise that it tasted lovely and didn't make her feel sick or faint at all. She sat down on her bed, enjoying the sweet, fresh taste and feeling perfectly fine. Maybe it wasn't a prank after all. If it wasn't it couldn't hurt if she had just one more.

In the middle of that second peppermint, she suddenly realised that she was feeling terribly, terribly sleepy...

_...and the world became a haze of erotic bliss, and Claire's disembodied, sensual voice began whispering to her as Luna's entire body exploded with pleasure, from the tip of her nose and all the way down to her feet, and then invisible tongues ran down her skin, invisible mouths suckling on her nipples and kissing her navel, and Claire was there and stroking her now, and her cunt spasmed again and again, and it felt so good, it felt so incredibly fucking good, and she came, and she came, and came, and came..._

...and when she opened her eyes again, it was morning, and she was lying in her bed, the curtains pulled shut around it even though she couldn't remember closing them, and she was completely naked even though she couldn't remember undressing.

Luna stared at the curtains, then at herself. Then she pulled the curtain aside, and the winter sun was shining in through the window and the other girls in the dorm were all fast asleep in their own beds.

Swallowing heavily, Luna grabbed her wand from her nightstand, trying to stop her hand from shaking as she moved it towards the bag of peppermints still on her nightstand. _"E-Evanesco!"_

The bag vanished. Luna lowered her wand, trying to get her breath back under control. She would never, ever again eat peppermints before bedtime, certainly not ones that claimed to be presents from Blibbering Humdingers and gave her erotic dreams about Claire. Especially not ones that made Claire seem so... _nice._

Feeling disgusted with her dream, and dirtier than she could remember ever having felt, she got out of bed and went to take a long shower, hoping that she wouldn't have any more dreams like that, because once was _more _than enough.

But she did.

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>Shouldn't be too hard to figure out just why Luna had that dream, and what part the peppermints played, right? The plot thickens...

It's fun writing stories that take place "off-screen" during canon, because it means I get to set up, or show reactions to, canon events. My favorite here is setting Neville up as the "expert on the Room of Requirement" he's become in _Deathly Hallows. _


	6. Dreams and Quidditch

_This is the penultimate chapter of the story; the plot threads are beginning to come together, and we get a few more direct quotes from "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" that I'm very sure you'll recognize the moment you read them._

_In this chapter, Luna has very explicit dreams, Neville says more than he ought to, Seamus makes lewd jokes, Dean broods, and Claire is getting her revenge..._

* * *

><p><strong>BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO<strong>

**Based on the _Harry Potter_ books by J. K. Rowling.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER SIX:<br>Dreams and Quidditch  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The dreams continued.<p>

Not every night, but _almost _every night, Luna's sleep would be filled with erotic dreams about Claire, dreams which grew more detailed and intense. So intense, in fact, that Luna felt more exhausted after a full night's sleep than she did after even the longest school days.

But the Claire of her dreams wasn't the cruel, manipulative Claire of real life; no, the Claire of Luna's dreams was sweet, soft and considerate - and oh, so very, very sexy - and Luna started to feel her resolve against ever doing anything sexual again weaken.

More than once, even when she was awake, she caught herself staring at the older girl at inappropriate times, her mind filling up with extremely filthy thoughts all of its own. A couple of times, these thoughts overwhelmed her so much that she simply _had _to retreat to her dorm room and masturbate to intense thoughts and fantasies of Claire.

Was this _normal,_ she wondered as she lay there, panting and sweaty. When a girl used you and put you through sexual torture like Claire had done, was it _common _then to start fantasizing about sex with said girl again? To have your mind starting to obsess over it, even if you yourself really didn't want it to?

It wasn't that her memories of her horrible time under the spell _Sensualis _Charm grew any fonder over time, nor did she forget just how horrible Claire had been. It was just that, well, somehow all that didn't seem to matter so much anymore.

She decided against asking anyone whether this was normal or not. They'd just take it the wrong way - even Neville would probably just end up worrying more about her than before, and she didn't really want to worry him any more than necessary.

* * *

><p>The weeks passed, and Neville hadn't had any confrontations with Claire Savelle - or with Marietta Edgecombe, who now seemed like she was going out of her way to avoid absolutely everyone, especially Claire.<p>

Hopefully, he told himself, this was a good sign. Even though the rumors about Luna being Harry Potter's girlfriend had silenced somewhat since Harry was never seen spending any time with her in public, the Ravenclaws still seemed wary about doing anything rash when Luna was involved. Claire, despite her pre-Christmas speech to Neville, seemed like she was at least biding her time, and with any luck, Fred and George would have delivered before she decided to strike.

In the meantime, Neville continued his weekly meetings with Luna, practicing all the defensive spells they could think of, just in case.

During the last session, he _had _thought Luna did seem a bit more out of it than usual, but when asked she had assured him that everything was fine, and that it was just her OWL studies that were taking a toll on her. He could sympathize, given that his own schedule was getting more and more hectic as the year went on - in addition to the ever-increasing amount of schoolwork, there were also the weekly Apparation lessons, which had started just after the holiday.

True, the Apparation lessons were strictly voluntary, and Neville had briefly considered not taking them at all, just to make it easier on himself. The thought of what Gran would say to _that_, however, had quickly caused him to change his mind and sign up for them anyway.

Not that Neville ever expected the lessons to be of any help to him. Outside his few strong points - Charms, Herbology and Defense against the Dark Arts (the last one mainly being a strong point when it wasn't Snape who was the teacher) - he was still one of the worst wizards of his year. There was no way he would be able to learn Apparation in any time span less than five years.

After the first couple of lessons, most of the others seemed to begin thinking the same about themselves - although there were some exceptions.

"It's gonna be so cool," said Seamus for roughly the sixteenth time as he, Dean and Neville walked back to Gryffindor Tower after their fourth Apparation lesson. "I've always dreamed of doing it, ya know! Appearing and reappearing, just like that!"

"We _know, _Seamus," said Dean, looking slightly exasperated. Seamus was the only one in the entire Apparation class who never got frustrated with the fiendishly difficult subject. "You keep telling us!"

"Yeah, but still," said Seamus, completely oblivious to Dean's frustration. "Just you wait until I pass me test, that's all I'm saying!"

"If he keeps going on about it like that, he won't _live _to pass his test," Dean muttered to Neville.

"What?" said Seamus, his grin vanishing.

"Er, so, did I ever tell you two how grateful I was that you agreed to help Luna with her, er, Ravenclaw problems?" said Neville hurriedly, not wanting another fight between Dean and Seamus. "Things've been much better for her lately!"

"Well, it's mostly been you and Ginny," said Dean, apparently just as eager for a different conversation topic. "You spend far more time with her. Seamus and I, we just sorta keep an eye out when we have time, and all that."

"But then," added Seamus, grinning again, "we don't have your motivation."

"Motivation?" said Neville.

Dean and Seamus exchanged looks. "You don't have to pretend," Dean eventually said. "We're not complete morons - well, I'm not, at any rate, not sure about Seamus - we know you fancy Luna."

"I don't fancy Luna!" said Neville. "Why does everybody keep saying that?"

"Oh, come off it, Neville! It's nothing to be ashamed about!" Seamus punched his shoulder jovially. "So you have odd tastes in women - that's no big thing! Look at Ron, going with _Lavender,_ of all people..."

"You're just jealous because 'Lav-Lav' didn't choose you," Dean grinned.

"Take a girl to the Yule Ball once because you don't want to face the humiliation of going alone, and your best friend keeps going on about it for years afterwards," said Seamus over-dramatically. "It's not like I ever snuck off for private time with Lavender in the Room of Requirement or -"

"I do not fancy Luna!" Neville repeated, fairly sure that the 'Room of Requirement' bit was directed to him. He knew it had been a mistake mentioning meeting Luna there to Seamus. "She's a _friend_, all right?"

"A_ girrrrrlfriend..."_ said Seamus in a sing-songy voice.

"For the last time," said Neville, "I am not in love with Luna! I thought you two were smarter than this! You never accused Harry of getting it on with Hermione, even when that was in the Daily Prophet!"

"Well, Harry never started a 'let's-protect-Hermione' group," said Seamus. "And he never went out of his way to spend alone-time with Hermione either. You didn't think we'd noticed how you keep sneaking off to the Room of Requirement with Luna?"

"Yes, for _training__,__"_ said Neville. "Since there's no DA anymore, we -"

"Ooooh, training, is that what they call it nowadays?" Seamus laughed. "How romantic! _'Ooh, Neville, train me!'"_ he said in a high-pitched girly voice. _"'__Oh, your wand is so big__ -"_

Neville hid his face in his hands, trying to keep his breath under control. "Look," he said hotly, "Even if I _was _in love with Luna, it wouldn't matter, because she's a les -" And then, almost too late, he realised what he was saying. He cut off his last word, biting his lip hard.

Dean and Seamus stopped, staring at him. "Because she's a what?" said Dean.

Neville swallowed. _I'm the world's biggest idiot,_ was all he could think.

"Luna Lovegood is a _les?__"_ said Seamus, half-amused and half-shocked.

"No..." said Neville."I..."

"Neville, how exactly do you know that she is a _les?"_ Seamus demanded.

"I -" Neville began, and then gave up. "Fine," he sighed. "I'll tell you the truth. But not here. Come with me to the Room of Requirement, will you?"

It was to Seamus's credit that he (though it was possibly because he was still taking in the news of Luna) did _not _make a lewd joke about a gay threesome.

* * *

><p>The dreams were growing more intense, night by night. Luna was starting to suspect that this wasn't normal at all, and that something was happening to her, something that might be a good idea to talk to Neville or, well, anyone about - but somehow she couldn't quite bring herself to.<p>

She had opened her mouth several times to speak the words to Professor Flitwick after Charms class, to Ginny during her shared classes with the Gryffindors, to Neville during "Room of Requirement time," but each and every time the words died on her lips.

Only Neville seemed to vaguely recognize that something was wrong; he kept asking her if she was feeling all right, but she kept lying and telling him she was fine, that she was just tired from all the schoolwork. Luna had never been a liar before, but now she couldn't seem to _stop _lying. It was most distressing, but it didn't seem like there was anything she could do about it - her mouth just refused to speak about the dreams.

But they were just dreams, right? It wasn't like they could hurt her... and they did feel nice... fucking nice...

Gradually, almost without noticing, she began to look forward to the dreams. She began going to bed earlier just so she'd have more time with Claire in her dreams. She began skipping lunch, a couple of times even dinner, just so she could go up to the common room for a quick nap and more dreams instead.

Over the days and weeks, she grew more and more convinced that this wasn't normal, but by this time she was completely certain it wasn't, she didn't care anymore.

* * *

><p>"Wow," said Dean after Neville had finished telling a heavily-abridged version of the story. "I had no idea that things like this were going on at Hogwarts. So you're saying this Claire Savelle...?"<p>

"Yes, but please don't tell anyone," said Neville. "It'll be... you just know that if this comes out, Luna will be getting the worst of it. The Ravenclaws already hate her, and they _like _Claire Savelle, so they'll make it all out to be Luna's fault -"

"So, when are you gonna hex the living daylights out of Savelle?" said Seamus. "I mean, I like a bit of girl-on-girl action as much as the next bloke, but this is just wrong. Besides, they'd never let me watch," he added in a joking tone, "so it's completely wasted anyway."

"I'm not going to hex her," said Neville. "She's left Luna alone ever since before Christmas. If we're lucky, she's given up..."

"You're just too soft," said Seamus. "Neville, mate, you can't just turn yourself into a doormat and hope that people are gonna forget about treading on you if you lie flat enough!"

Neville stifled a sigh. Why did everyone who found out about this seem to think that slinging a few hexes at Claire would solve the problem? "I didn't say I wouldn't do anything," he protested, "but hexing Savelle is just going to add to the problem! She'll get angry and out for revenge..."

"Sounds to me like she's already angry and out for revenge," said Seamus. "Just taking her time about it. Probably thinking up something especially nasty."

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Why not strike first?"

"Because if we strike first, she gets the upper hand," said Neville. "She can just tell the teachers and everyone else that we started it - and then we get detention, and the Ravenclaws angry at us, and she comes out of it with everyone's sympathy because she's the 'victim' here. But if we just practice defense magic and wait for her to make the first move..."

"Well..." Dean muttered. "When you put it like that... But I still say it's a risk to take. You realise that she's probably going to be all devious and _clever _about it, right? You might not see it coming."

"Which is why I've got a plan for that eventuality," said Neville, swallowing. "I just hope that Fred and George deliver on time..."

A look of understanding passed over both Dean and Seamus's faces. "Oh, you've allied yourself with Fred and George?" said Dean. "Well, now I understand. Good show, Neville! Those two'll make short work out of anyone who tries anything! Sounds like you've been planning after all!"

"Oh yeah," Seamus smirked. "With the Weasley twins on the job, all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the show!"

"Er, yes," said Neville. "Er, I didn't tell them about the 'lesbian' part, though, just that, er, I wanted something against the Ravenclaws' harassment of Luna. Not that I think they're, er, homophobic or anything, but, you know, they'd start making jokes about it..."

"Point taken," said Dean, raising his eyebrows as a new thought struck him. "You think Ginny knows? She's been an awful lot around Luna lately... it would really be something if I lost my girlfriend to another girl, huh?" he added, in a rather failed attempt at a joke.

"You could always have a threesome," said Seamus.

"I'm more of a one-woman man, really..." Dean muttered.

"Then what about the time you said -"

"Luna says she hasn't told Ginny, so I don't think she knows," Neville hurried to say. "Besides, I think it's pretty well established that Ginny likes boys. She fancied Harry for the longest of times, and then she went with that Michael Corner for a while, and now -"

"Did I ever tell you about my uncle, on my mother's side?" said Dean darkly. "Muggle. Got married and even had a daughter, and then decided he was gay and moved in with some other bloke. Caused a real stir in my family - my aunt still won't talk to him. And Ginny and I _have _been fighting a lot lately..."

"Now you're just being paranoid," said Neville, who felt that the conversation was going places it would be better off avoiding. "I'm sure Ginny isn't going to end up dating Luna. It's not like every single girl in this school is secretly a lesbian."

"That would be something, wouldn't it?" said Seamus, obviously back to making lewd jokes. "Who knows what goes on in their dormitories? You know, I'll just bet that's the real reason why we're kept out of the girls' dorms! They don't want us to know it, but they all have naked orgies at night, kissing and fondling each other's tits and spanking each other with -!"

"Will you stop that?" Dean snapped.

"Don't pretend you weren't thinking it too!" Seamus nudged his friend with his elbow.

Neville decided _not _to stifle his next sigh. "Just don't tell anyone about it?" he pleaded. "If you want to continue keeping an eye on Luna, I'll be grateful, but... Don't tell anyone you know, all right?"

"All right, all right, I won't tell," said Seamus after Dean had thumped him on the head a couple of times. "But I want all the details of the Weasley revenge on Savelle afterwards!"

"I just hope you know what you're doing," said Dean.

_So do I,_ Neville thought.

* * *

><p>It was horrible. But it was horrible in a <em>nice <em>way. If Luna had been given the choice of horrible things to happen to her, this would definitely be on top of the list - because if you're going to have horrible things happening to you anyway, you might as well pick a situation where you can enjoy yourself.

Granted, her schoolwork suffered. She seemed to see sex, lesbian sex, everywhere, even in the driest and dullest of Professor Binns' History of Magic classes. A few times, Luna could have sworn that the ghost was talking, in his normal flat tone, about the joys of having your cunt eaten out by Claire Savelle, and it was only through a tremendous effort of concentration that she realised that he was talking about the five hundredth goblin revolt - but it was already too late, and she'd grown so horny that she once again simply _had _to run up to her dorm room to masturbate as soon as class was over.

It was probably the only time, ever, that a Binns class got anyone horny, she thought afterwards, after a very small orgasm that had been quite disappointing

It wasn't that she had never masturbated before. She'd discovered the pleasure of touching herself at a fairly young age, but it had always been a fairly rare, casual indulgence; if she happened to feel like touching herself while in the bathtub, or in bed, she would - but she had never felt such urgent and frequent needs for it like she did now.

And it wasn't that she had never had erotic dreams before. It had happened, on occasion - one time, she'd had a dream about an orgy with Ron and Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy and Moaning Myrtle, and had spent a long time afterwards laughing at the sheer ludicrousness of the image - but now, the dreams came every night, and were always about Claire.

It was amazing that she didn't seem to grow tired or bored with it, and even more amazing that she never felt sore at all. Her cunt should by all accounts feel terribly sore, for all the times her hands spent playing with it, but it never did. She iknew/i that wasn't normal...

She might have spent some more time worrying about it, but when she had reached this far in her line of thoughts, she fell asleep, and slept through the entire afternoon, even missing dinner because she was busy dreaming about Claire Savelle kissing her and sucking her nipples and stroking her thighs and nibbling her neck and kneading her buttocks and licking her pussy and biting her clit...

* * *

><p>The next development in Neville's situation came on the Saturday following his talk with Dean and Seamus.<p>

It was close to ten in the evening, and most of the Gryffindor students were in their common room, occupied with various activities: reading, playing games or chatting about the cancelled Hogsmeade trip and what they would have done if they had been allowed to go. Since tomorrow was Sunday and nobody needed to be up early, most were in no hurry to go to bed either.

Neville finished up his homework with a sigh of relief. It had taken him the better part of the day, but now he'd have Sunday completely free, and could spend more of it practicing together with Luna. Dean and Seamus were playing Exploding Snap with a few younger students, he noticed as he put away his books - maybe he would ask if he could join them after he had seen to Trevor. It was too early to go to bed yet, although Harry and Hermione, he had noticed, had retired very early that night... and since he couldn't see Ron or Ginny anywhere either, it seemed like they, too, had gone to bed early.

Then again, he had noticed that seventh-year Cormac McLaggen had tried to corner Harry with what seemed to be Quidditch talk, so he couldn't blame either of them for calling it an early night. (Neville had been unfortunate enough to sit beside McLaggen at one point during a Quidditch match, and the boy's constant nagging about all the mistakes made by every single player had been extremely grating.)

Neville was just about to get out of his chair, when he to his surprise saw Fred Weasley come crawling in through the portrait hole, looking uncharacteristically serious.

"Hey, Neville," he said, waving off a number of other students who had raised themselves and were on their way over to him.

"Fred?" said Neville, accidentally knocking over the pile of books on the table. "What are you doing here?" he added, somewhat embarrassed, as he scrambled to pick them all up.

"George and me came to visit Ron on his birthday," Fred explained, kneeling down to help him pick the books up. "We were gonna meet him down at Hogsmeade, and were planning on hunting down you there as well. But then we found out your trip was cancelled, and _then _we found out that Ron had gone and poisoned himself."

"What?" said Neville, dropping the books.

"You didn't know?" Fred looked genuinely surprised. "I'd have thought Harry or Hermione would've told you."

Neville shook his head. "I haven't talked to either of them all day! What happened?"

"Well, apparently Ron drank some mulled mead that turned out to be poisoned," said Fred in a low voice. "Harry saved his life - shoved a bezoar down his throat before the poison took any big effect. He's gonna be fine, but he'll be confined to the hospital wing for some time. Mum, Dad, Ginny and George are up there with him now."

"Don't tell me you didn't know Weasley was at the hospital wing, Longbottom," scoffed McLaggen, who had apparently heard the conversation and was closing in on them. "I saw them take him up there this morning. What did you think I was talking to Potter about just before? Someone's gotta replace Weasley as Keeper, right?"

"McLaggen, do the words _'private conversation'_ mean anything to you?" Fred snapped.

Several of the other students who had drawn closer took a step back. Only Lavender Brown stood her ground, looking horrified. "Won-Won's at the hospital wing?" she shrieked. "Why didn't anyone tell me? I'm his girlfriend! I should be up there with him to comfort him!"

"He's gonna be fine," said Fred, though not in a particularly comforting voice. "Look, you lot, can you let me just talk to Neville here? I can't stay here forever, I have to get back to the hospital wing! You can ask Harry or Hermione all about it tomorrow!"

Lavender turned on her heels and raced up the stairs to the girls' dorms, no doubt to haul Hermione out of bed and pry for details, while the others slowly went back to their activities, talking among themselves in hushed voices. Even though Fred no longer attended Hogwarts, he and George still commanded a certain respect with the Gryffindors - partly because they were the chief suppliers of joke items and prank materials for Hogwarts students, and partly because of their reputations for the spectacular escape they performed the previous year.

Fred turned back to Neville. "Since we didn't see you in Hogsmeade, I talked Ginny into giving me the password for the common room. Had to give you these, after all." He fished two metal bracelets out of his robe pocket and handed them over. "They took a bit longer to make than we'd estimated, but we managed."

"Oh," said Neville, taking the bracelets and looking them over. There was absolutely nothing special-looking about them - you'd probably be hard-pressed to find any bracelet that looked less plain or inconspicuous. "Thank you! They look brilliant!"

"Hope they'll prove helpful," said Fred. "Same deal as the Shield Cloaks or Hats, really. Won't help against the biggest curses, but for minor to moderate hexes or jinxes -"

"And the extra features?"

"Got 'em all. Everything's tried and tested - it works flawlessly." Even in his weary voice, Fred managed to insert a touch of pride at the accomplishment.

Neville smiled briefly. "Thanks... I really appreciate this. How much do I owe -"

Fred waved his hand. "Don't think about paying. What with Ron's situation and all... well, we understand even better why you wanted this. Sad fact is, Hogwarts isn't as safe as we've always been led to believe. Besides," he added, looking a little more cheerful, "ten to one these things are gonna be be big sellers, and we would never have even thought of making them if it wasn't for you." With that, he stood. "Better get back to the hospital wing, though. The others are probably starting to wonder where I went off to."

"Tell Ron I wish him a speedy recovery then," said Neville, sliding one of the bracelets onto his wrist. "And give my thanks to George as well."

"Right you are. 'Bye, people!" Fred waved to the room and made for the portrait hole, only to almost collide with Ginny, who was just entering.

The two siblings exchanged looks, but didn't say anything to each other. As Fred vanished out the portrait hole, Ginny came up to Neville and sat heavily down in the chair he had abandoned.

"I just heard about Ron," said Neville carefully.

Ginny nodded. "Always knew his tendency to eat everything he sees would get him into trouble one day," she said, her voice thick.

"But he'll be all right, won't he?" said Neville. "Fred told me -"

"Yeah, he'll be fine," said Ginny. "That's the only reason I let them chase me out of the hospital wing. If there had been any chance that he wouldn't make it..." she clenched her fists, before sighing and changing the subject. "What's with those bracelets, anyway? I saw Fred with them earlier..."

"Er, safety precautions," said Neville. "You didn't happen to see Luna today, by the way? I wanted -"

"No," Ginny snapped, suddenly furious. "We're not joined at the hip, you know! No matter what Dean's told you, I am _not _having a lesbian affair with Luna! Honestly, I can't say anything lately before he starts accusing me of going behind his back to snog her! I don't even know where he gets the idea that -"

"Never mind!" squeaked Neville, cursing himself for ever having talked about Luna's sexual preferences to Dean. "Maybe I'll just leave you alone for a little..."

"No - no, I'm sorry, Neville," said Ginny hurriedly. "I didn't mean to yell! It's just - it's too much for me lately! Not only the situation with Ron, but Dean and I can't even talk without fighting anymore. But it's not your fault."

_Care to take a wager on that?_ thought Neville glumly, but he didn't say anything out loud.

It wasn't until he had gone up to the dormitory and made sure that Harry was asleep before he confronted Dean.

The normally cheerful boy had grown increasingly gloomy and snappish over the week, and didn't at all appreciate Neville asking him about his arguments with Ginny.

"I didn't tell her that Luna was a lesbian," he protested. "And I'm not constantly accusing her of going with Luna either! I _asked _her, once, maybe twice, if she wouldn't have been better off with someone else, like _possibly _Luna, since nothing I ever do is good enough for her anymore! That's all!"

Neville just sighed and decided not to get involved. He'd done enough to ruin their relationship, he thought - even if it had only been by accident - and didn't particularly feel like risking mucking things up even further for them.

He'd concentrate on his and Luna's situation instead. First thing tomorrow morning, he'd find her and give her the other bracelet. Then they'd hopefully be ready for whatever Claire had to throw at them, when and if she did choose to.

* * *

><p><em>"Nngh," said Luna and orgasmed.<em>

_Her mind was filled with pink sugar and fluffy dandelion seeds, giving her thoughts an interesting candyfloss-like feel - light and fluffy and incredibly sweet, and melting into a sticky caramel-like substance if she held them too long. She wasn't even sure if this was a dream or not._

_"...Claire?" she whispered._

_"Be still." The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and it was pink and fluffy and happy, and oh so incredibly erotic, and it was Claire and it was the whole world... "I'm just going to use a Shaving Charm to make you more presentable."_

_"Okay," said Luna, slightly out of breath. The candyfloss spun around inside her, making her feel pinker and pinker. She was almost certain that if she raised her hand to her mouth now and licked it, it would melt into caramel in her mouth, and so would any other part of her body that she might care to name._

_As she lay there imagining what it might feel like to melt herself with her own tongue, she felt a tingling sensation over her crotch, and at first she thought that her cunt had started melting already - but then the tingling sensation stopped, and she felt cool air against her skin._

_The voice chuckled, sending ripples through the world and, why not, the entire universe. "Smooth as a baby, and you're still my naughty little slut, aren't you?"_

_"...Yes." It was the only answer that presented itself._

_"Well, the charm should last a week. One week, and we'll be finished with all you're going to do exactly as I tell you to, aren't you?"_

_"...are you going to fuck me...?"_

_More chuckling. "Oh yes, I'm going to fuck you. One week, and you'll be thoroughly fucked. But you need to do everything I tell you to... I'm going to tell you the plan, and then you'll forget that I told you, and just obey my instructions without thinking about them." _

_"Okay."_

_"Tell me what's going to happen, then."_

_"You're going to tell me your plan, but I won't remember that you've told me, I'll just obey your instructions without thinking about them..."_

_"Excellent, slut..." _

When Luna took a shower the next morning, her mind considerably less pink but still somewhat out of key with its surroundings, she glanced down herself and noticed that the familiar tuft of hair she usually had down there was gone.

She vaguely remembered having a dream that might have involved Hair-Removal Charms, but she couldn't recall any details. It had all been so pink and fluffy and strangely erotic... But, she thought as she ran her finger over her naked, hairless crotch to make sure that the hair really was gone (it was; her skin felt smooth to the touch, like the skin of a peach but with considerably less fuzz), this could only mean one of three things.

Either the dream hadn't been a dream at all...

...or she had started sleepwalking again and for some reason decided to shave her pussy before she woke up...

...or she had been visited by Hair-Stealing Varytains while she was asleep.

She wasn't completely sure which one she most hoped was the truth.

* * *

><p>The commotion around Ron's poisoning died down fairly quickly - most people assumed it was an accident rather than a direct murder attempt like the attack on Katie had been. Besides, Ron was going to be fine, so the general attitude was that there was no reason to worry.<p>

Neville wasn't really sure what to think. Harry, from the few conversations he'd had with him since the incident, seemed convinced that there was more to it than a simple accident, but couldn't, or wouldn't, say anything more. In the end, Neville decided that there wasn't much he could do by worrying about it (and Ron would be okay, after all), so he decided to concentrate more on his own situation.

He'd managed to deliver the bracelet to Luna the next day, although he hadn't really been able to explain much about it, given that the only opportunity that presented itself was at dinner in the Great Hall, with all the other students present - and telling someone the function of your 'secret weapon' while everyone else is listening kind of defies the point of having a secret weapon in the first place.

"Here," he'd said, having walked up to the Ravenclaw table and, as discreetly as possible, handed her the bracelet while trying to make sure that not too many people were watching (and particularly not Claire Savelle, who thankfully seemed busy pretending that the world around her didn't exist as she ate in silence). "Put this on, and don't take it off under any circumstances, all right? I'm wearing one as well."

Luna had looked at the bracelet with mild curiousity, although he'd noticed, somehow, that there was something just vaguely... off about her. As if she wasn't all there, and in a different way than her usual half-dreaminess. "Is it Christmas again already?" she asked distantly. "I didn't know they'd moved it up, or I would have got something for you as well..."

"It's not Christmas, it's... I'll explain later," Neville whispered.

"Oh," said Luna, still distant. "I've never heard of that holiday. Is it new?"

Neville paused, but only for a moment. He was getting used to Luna's level of nonsensical talk, but this was a bit too much, even for her. "Are you feeling all right?" he asked.

She blinked a few times, as if trying to focus. "I'm sorry, I haven't slept well lately," she added with a faint murmur. "Dreams, you know."

"Oh." (Later on, Neville would mentally kick himself for not realizing what that implied, but at the moment, he more or less assumed that it was some sort of belated reaction to the ordeals Luna had had to go through with Claire.) "Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey and ask for some Dreamless Sleep potion?"

"I don't think she'd like that," said Luna.

"Not like it? It's her job, that's why she's here!" said Neville. "Why wouldn't she-" he was suddenly cut off by the voice of Professor McGonagall, dangerously close to him, and just as strict and humourless as always:

"Mister Longbottom, would you kindly go and find your place at the Gryffindor table? You're the only one who hasn't sat down yet, and you're disturbing the Ravenclaws."

Neville gulped. "Yes, Professor. I'll talk to you later, Luna," he said, hurrying over to his own House table and ignoring the look Seamus was giving him.

After that, he hadn't managed to find time to talk to Luna at all - schoolwork and Apparation lessons were demanding more of his time than ever, and the few moments he managed to spare, she never seemed to be around for him to talk to. The glimpses he caught of her over the next few days, however, revealed that she was at least wearing the bracelet, so he hoped she was okay.

The following Saturday, one full week after Ron's birthday poisoning and at the first Quidditch game with _(sigh)_ McLaggen as Keeper for the Gryffindor team, Neville got a rather big shock.

Together with Seamus and Parvati Patil (who seemed to be spending more time alone lately since her best friend had hooked up with Ron Weasley), he'd managed to find a nice spot on the spectator's stands, and was about to set aside all thoughts of troubles and schoolwork and just enjoy a good Quidditch match... but then:

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," said an all-too-familiar voice, echoing over the Quidditch pitch and the stands. "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them - oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice..."

Neville and Seamus looked at each other.

"Isn't that Loony Lovegood doing the commentaries?" said Parvati, raising an eyebrow.

_"LUNA, not Loony!"_ Neville and Seamus both roared at her (it had almost become a reflex at this point).

Parvati looked startled and muttered an apology. "But you didn't have to yell," she added slightly indignantly.

Neville ignored that. He fished his Spynoculars out of his pocket and placed them to his eyes, maneuvering the view until the commentator's podium was clear in his view. And there was no doubt about it - right there on the podium stood his friend, Butterbeer-cork necklace and all, looking more distant and dreamy than ever as she spoke into the voice-amplifying megaphone: "...But now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble... no, Buggins..."

"It's Cadwallader!" Professor McGonagall shouted, obviously trying, and only partly succeeding, to keep calm next to the unusual commentator as the crowd roared with laughter.

Neville put the Spynoculars down, looking at Seamus and Parvati with what, judging by their reactions, was probably a somewhat weird-looking expression.

"She didn't tell you anything about this?" said Seamus.

"We haven't talked much this last week," Neville muttered. "Been busy and... but you'd think that she would have said something..."

"Why would anyone let _her _comment on the game?" said Parvati, looking puzzled. "For that matter, why would she want to do it? I don't really know her that well, but outside that lion hat she used to wear, I didn't think she was _that _crazy about Quidditch... oh, great, that Cadwallader bloke just scored!"

Neville didn't pay attention to the last part of her statement. He felt as if an icy hand had suddenly grabbed hold of his heart and was clutching it tightly. _No... it couldn't be..._ Quickly, he placed the Spynoculars to his eyes again and let the view sweep all over the spectators' stands. He vaguely caught, from the boos and cheers of the audience rather than Luna's commentary, that Gryffindor scored twice while he wasn't looking, but at the moment he couldn't care less. He just had to see if -!

And then, he found her. In the middle of a crowd of Ravenclaws, Claire Savelle sat with an unmistakable look of smugness on her face; that certain expression you only see on people when they're in the middle of getting what they perceive as righteous revenge.

Neville's mind raced. Claire had found a way to manipulate Luna again, he was certain of it. Why hadn't he seen the implications earlier, when Luna had retracted into herself again? It had been so obvious too, but he hadn't realised before it was too late. He had simply been too confident that the bracelets would protect her...

_Just brilliant, Longbottom!_ he thought, furious at himself. _You __**idiot**__! You go along with your carefully-constructed plan and __just __ignore __what's__ straight in front of your nose! If Claire Savelle has hurt Luna in any way, I'll never forgive you!_

"And Zacharias Smith loses the Quaffle again," said Luna, oblivious to anything else. "You know, he's the only player today who hasn't been able to hold onto the Quaffle for even a few seconds, I think he must be suffering from Loser's Lurgy, that's a very rare disease that usually only attacks older wizards, but maybe he is older than he looks. And now the Quaffle goes to - oh, look at that, that cloud up there looks almost like a map of Sweden! I went to Sweden this summer, you know, and it was very interesting even if we didn't find a single Crumple-Horned Snorkack. But I did learn some Swedish words. There was this boy I met who told me that _'How do you do'_ in Swedish is _'Jag vill knulla,'_ but I don't think he was telling the truth, because people got all flustered when I said that to them, and -"

"Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff!" barked Professor McGonagall into Luna's megaphone, a slight edge of despair having edged into her voice.

"Is it, already?" said Luna vaguely. "Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beater's bat."

Half a minute later, said Gryffindor Keeper had accidentally hit the Gryffindor Seeker with said bat - and since not even the great Harry Potter was prepared for an attack from his own Keeper, he was knocked off his broom and fell, only avoiding an extremely hard landing because the Gryffindor Beaters managed to catch him in mid-air and lowering his limp form gently to the ground - where he lay sprawled and unconscious until Madam Hooch removed him from the pitch.

"I think Harry still holds the record for most visits to the hospital wing," said Luna solemnly from the commentator's podium as the match started up again (reluctantly from Gryffindor's side, and with Ginny Weasley doubling as both Chaser and Seeker). "But he really shouldn't have to. I would have been happy to have broken his record if that meant he didn't get hurt so much. But maybe Ron Weasley will be glad for the company? I wonder if Smith should go to the hospital wing too though, because his Loser's Lurgy doesn't seem to have improved any, and -" her prattling continued.

Neville sat uneasily, thinking both about Harry and about Luna. What could he do? Well, he couldn't do anything with Harry, but with Luna... but he couldn't go up to her while she was commentating, could he? All right, Claire wouldn't try anything in front of all these witnesses, but _he _couldn't do much either.

Finally, he decided to at least move over to be close to the commentator's podium, so he could talk to Luna as soon as the match was over. He exchanged one last look with Seamus before standing.

"Where are you going, Neville?" said Parvati. "Harry'll be all right. He's gone through much worse than that before."

"He's not the one I'm worried about," Neville muttered, handing his Spynoculars over to Seamus. "Look, can you do me a favour? Keep an eye on Claire Savelle for me - she's over there, at the Ravenclaw stands. You don't have to do anything, just... keep an eye on her."

Seamus's eyes widened. "You think -?"

"I think," said Neville heavily. "But I don't _know,_ not yet. I'm going to try finding out, though."

He heard Parvati ask Seamus what that was all about, but didn't wait to hear Seamus's answer. Maneuvering himself through the various Gryffindors on the stands, he set down for the commentator's podium.

Unfortunately, it took longer than he had expected, all thanks to his damnable clumsiness. Neville had always hoped that, when it really counted, he could be like the people in all those stories and overcome his weakness in the time of need and becoming - well, if not _graceful,_ then at least not as clumsy and accident-prone as usual. But it was difficult moving between all the students, especially when he was supposed to move as quickly as possible, and before he knew it, he lost his footing and fell.

For a moment, the world became a whirl of cloud-filled sky, student's faces and the brown wooden colour of the stand seats, and then all of a sudden everything was black and sort of fabric-like.

Neville blinked and suddenly realised that he must have fallen onto the two seventh-year Gryffindor girl he was currently on top of, and as he lifted his face he realised to his great embarrassment that he'd landed with his face in the lap of one of the girls.

"Will you watch where you're going, you clumsy prick?" the girl shouted, her face pink. "Get off!"

_"OWW!_ You're heavier than an overweight elephant!" complained the other girl, whose, er, girly bits he had at least managed to avoid touching directly. "I'm being squashed flat here!"

"S-sorry," Neville stammered, trying feverishly to get up without making the world spin again. A few other students edged closer, a few of which (mostly boys) were applauding and calling _"Good show!"_, and a few of which were asking if he and the girls were okay, but before either could answer, the voice of Professor McGonagall echoed over them:

"Summerby has the Snitch! Hufflepuff wins, three hundred and twenty to sixty!"

The crowd went wild. Cheers from the Hufflepuff side of the stands, boos and jeers (and more than a few yelled threats at McLaggen) from the Gryffindors. Even the two girls Neville had landed on seemed to forget their situation and joined in with the others' yelling, while Neville himself finally managed to get to his feet and tried making his way down to the commentator's podium without falling again.

Eventually, and after several close cuts with students rushing down to the field (he noticed that quite a few students had gathered around the now-landed team, looking angry), he managed to get to the podium, but it was too late; Luna was no longer there. Instead, an annoyed-looking Professor McGonagall was looking over the Quidditch pitch, obviously debating with herself whether she should go down and stop the Gryffindors from killing McLaggen or not.

"Professor," said Neville, out of breath. "Did you see where Luna went?"

She turned to look at him. "I'm afraid not, Mister Longbottom," she said. "She did, however, ask me to tell you that she would be found at the 'regular place' if I saw you." Her mouth tightened even further as she said this; Luna was apparently not her favourite person right now - although she was probably higher-ranked than McLaggen. "Hopefully, you know what she meant by that. I swear that sometimes, that girl - well, that's not important," she interrupted herself. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go down to the field and make sure that Mister McLaggen lives to see his final exams."

"Did she say anything about why she wanted to do the commentary?" Neville asked hurriedly.

"I suggest you ask _her_ about that, Mister Longbottom," said McGonagall impatiently, beginning to move down the steps.

"She - er - didn't, by any chance say _'__Because she told me to'_?" Neville called after her.

She turned to look at him. The look of surprise in her eyes told him, to his despair, that those were probably the exact words Luna had used.

* * *

><p><em>'The regular place'<em> - that had to be the Room of Requirement. After Neville had had a quick look-around on the field to see if Luna might still be there, which she wasn't (and neither, he noted, was Claire - or Seamus), he hurried back to the castle.

It took longer than usual to get the Room of Requirement to appear for him; even with how out-of-breath he was when reaching the familiar corridor, the Room took long enough to show itself that he had completely caught his breath again by the time the door appeared.

_P__lease be the room Luna is in... I need you to be the room Luna is in..._ he repeated mentally, for what was probably the fiftieth time, as he grabbed the doorhandle and opened the door.

And entered a world of darkness.

The room was almost pitch-black, the only thing visible being a few faint candle flames in front of him. Neville stepped inside, squinting and trying to make out any sort of details in the darkness. After a few moments, he began to see shapes and shadows...

"Luna?" he called, hearing how small and pitiful his voice sounded in the dark.

There was no answer apart from a very, very soft sound - a girl moaning.

"Luna?" he called again, swallowing as he started to make out more shapes and shadows, seeing something big and block-like in front of him, on top of which something was moving...

_"Colloportus!"_ came a voice from the darkness, and Neville heard the door behind him shut and seal itself with an odd squelching sound.

Neville stiffened. He knew that voice. "Claire Savelle?"

_"Lumos."_ A beam of light shot upward, illuminating the features of Claire. Sharp shadows played across the girl's face giving her normally pretty face a vaguely grotesque, frightening look.

"Nothing gets by you, does it, Longbottom?" she said mockingly. "Realised that this is a trap yet?"

"I... I..." Neville backed up, colliding with the sealed door behind him. "What do you want, Savelle?"

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Longbottom, not even you could be this stupid. We talked about it before Christmas, didn't we? _Nox!"_

The beam of light vanished - and not five seconds later, the candles on the walls seemed to glow brighter (but whether this was magic or just Neville's eyes getting more used to the dark was difficult to say). Now, Neville could see exactly what was in front of him: A large bed, on which was perched a content-looking Claire Savelle... and right beside her was Luna.

A _naked _Luna, wearing only her normal Butterbeer cork necklace and her bracelet, lying on her back and looking for all the world as if she was half asleep... except her hand, the one with the bracelet no less, was working on her crotch, and her hips moved in time with the hand and her heavy breathing...

"Luna?" Neville yelped.

"Nnn..." answered Luna in a distant, dreamy voice. She lifted her head slightly and seemed to try focusing on him before lying back again and unashamedly continued masturbating right in front of him.

"I don't think she's interested in talking right now," said Claire sweetly. "It's amazing how effective a few Compulsive Charms and Erotic Dream potions can do to an otherwise intelligent, if barking mad, young girl, isn't it?" She smiled dangerously and pointed her wand straight at Neville. "You asked what I wanted? Well, the answer should be obvious, even to you. I want some nice blackmail material so that you and the naughty little slut here won't ever get it into your heads to get in the way of me or my girlfriends again."

"Fuck..." Luna murmured.

Claire's face lit up in an evil smile. "Precisely."

* * *

><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> Y'know, there are many protagonists in stories (particularly fanfics) who would have loved to be in Neville's place right now. Of course, there are many protagonists in stories (particularly fanfics) who have no moral scruples. How will this all turn out?

Needless to say, _"Jag vill knulla" _does not in any way mean _"How do you do"_ in Swedish. Luna was offer for a childish prank here, and it's not at all surprising that the Swedes got flustered when she told them that she wanted to fuck. (Good thing McGonagall doesn't speak Swedish, or she would probably have reacted even worse than she did.)

Next chapter is the final chapter, and since I've actually managed to keep to the "two chapters per week" schedule, it will be up on Thursday!


	7. Sensualis Strikes Back

_And the final chapter is here! Thanks to everyone who's been with us for this story, and to those who have reviewed. I don't always answer reviews, but rest assured I read and appreciate each and every one._

_In this chapter, it's come down to the final confrontation with Claire Savelle - and it's Neville's desperate plan against Claire's sinister (and sex-filled) plan! Which of them will win?_

* * *

><p><strong>BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO<strong>

**Based on the _Harry Potter_ books by J. K. Rowling.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER SEVEN:<br>_Sensualis_ Strikes Back**

* * *

><p>Neville's mind raced. Claire had him at wandpoint, and there was no way he'd be fast enough to pull out his own wand, or do anything else, before she could fling any hexes or curses at him. Luna wouldn't be any help; she was too deep under whatever spell Claire had placed her under. He was still wearing the Weasley bracelet - but then, so was Luna (it was the only thing the girl was still wearing, apart from the ever-present Butterbeer cork necklace), and apparently the bracelet hadn't helped her, so he couldn't count on that.<p>

"What are you going to do, anyway?" he asked, trying to stop his voice from trembling, determined to stall her for as long as he could on the off chance that he'd get some brilliant idea. "Are you going to force me to... to..."

"Silly Longbottom," Claire smirked. "I'm not going to force you to do anything. You're going to do it all of your own free will. But first of all, you're going to give me your wand. And no tricks, and no moves I don't like, or this little get-together is going to turn a lot less pleasant. Go on."

"I'm - I'm not carrying my wand," Neville tried.

_"Stupefy!"_ A bolt of red light whizzed past Neville's head, missing him by mere inches. "That was what Muggles call a _'warning shot,'_" said Claire lazily. "If you lie to me about your wand again, I won't aim for the wall. Give me your wand now and I promise I won't snap it in two when I take it."

Reluctantly, and noticing that his hand was shaking, he fished his wand out of his pocket.

"Place it on the floor and then kick it over here," she commanded.

"I-if you t-think you can blackmail us with, with this," said Neville as he slowly placed the wand on the floor, "you're wrong. We have just as much on you as you could hope to get on us!" He gave the wand a little kick, causing it to roll across the floor and come to halt beside the bed.

"Oh, but I'll have so much more on you," said Claire with a smile, not bothering to pick up the wand, just staying in the same position. "I'll have proof. Neither you nor the slut here can ever prove that _I've_done anything, but..." She motioned towards the nightstand next to the bed, where Neville now saw a camera almost identical to the one Colin Creevey always carried around.

"This room is amazing," Claire continued. "I only had to _think_that I needed a camera in order to blackmail you, and there it was! But don't you get any ideas; I still have you at wandpoint!"

"Nnn..." Luna suddenly sat up on the bed and staring at Neville with dull eyes. "Nnneville...! Don't...!"

"Quiet," Claire snapped. Without looking away from Neville (or taking her wand away from him), she grabbed Luna's hand and guided it back to her bare crotch, beginning to manipulate Luna's fingers with her own. "Lover-boy here will be along before you know it. In the meantime, why don't you just masturbate some more... that's it, move your fingers like so..."

"Nnn-n-n..." said Luna intelligently, sinking back down and losing herself in the world of self-pleasure once more. "F-f-ff-fffff..."

It wasn't Neville's intention to stare, but it was incredibly hard not to.

"It's impolite to stare, Longbottom," said Claire, never having taken her eyes off him. "Or have you never seen a shaved cunt before? I noticed that Loony hadn't been very good about shaving down there, so I did her the favour of hitting her with a long-term Hair Removal Charm. She'll be smooth as a baby for at least another week."

For some reason, this sentence struck Neville as important, but he couldn't quite put his finger on just why. True, the last time he had seen Luna naked, several months ago, she had been covered there with curly blonde hair, and now she _wasn't_, and just how long-term _was_a long-term Hair Removal Charm, again? And why was he wondering about that now?

"Well, enough chit-chat." Claire stood up and walked a couple of steps out on the floor, still pointing her wand at him. "Strip."

W-what?" said Neville, startled.

"Don't pretend you're deaf, that never helps," said Claire. "Go on, strip."

"But..." Neville could feel himself going red.

"Aww, are we shy?" Claire's voice became a mocking parody of sweetness. "Don't worry, Longbottom. I'm still a lesbian and won't take any particular pleasure in seeing that ugly body of yours. But look at darling Luna there, all naked and horny and waiting for you to come fuck her. So," and the sweetness disappeared, giving away to a more businesslike tone, "either you strip now, at this very moment, or I Vanish all your clothes."

Neville gulped. "And then what?" he said and hoped his voice didn't really quiver as badly as it sounded to him. "I'm not going to touch Luna, not that way, and not to give you blackmail material. Whatever love potion you've cooked up, I won't drink it. So what are you planning to do, _Imperius_ me? That's an Unforgivable, you know, they'll find out and you'll be thrown into Azkaban for life!"

_"STRIP!"_ Claire roared, thrusting her wand threateningly towards him.

His hands began obeying almost as if they had their own will.

"Better," said Claire, a little calmer, as he struggled with his robes. "And to answer your question, I wouldn't dream of turning myself into a Dark witch for your sake. There are other ways... like I did with the slut here."

Neville let his robes fall to the ground. "What _did_you do with her?" he asked, trying to sound casual as he began taking off his shoes. "She's been distant all week... more than usual. Was that your handiwork?" There was that elusive thought about the length of a long-term Hair Removal Charm again... _could it be...?_

"What are we playing here, Twenty Questions?" Claire snapped. But then she smiled and looked at him with a smug look, and apparently she couldn't resist gloating a little. "But all right, Longbottom, I'll indulge you. You poor Gryffindors are clearly starved for intelligent conversation, not to mention sophisticated magic."

Neville didn't rise to the bait, as she'd clearly hoped, so after a second or two she shrugged and added in a bored tone: "I'll admit I was thrown a bit off when everybody were saying Harry Potter was suddenly Loony Lovegood's boyfriend. Admittedly, Potter's a bit of an idiot, but I didn't want to antagonize him and risk having the entire wizarding world turn on me. Imagine my joy when I found out that he wasn't really interested in Loony, and that _you_ were the only person who was... nobody cares about _you._ I could do whatever I wanted to you, and nobody would lift a finger."

Neville tried not to feel the sting of her words, but they were just all too easy to believe in - he was a spectacular failure as a wizard, weak and unimportant in very way, why _should_ anyone care about him? But no, he knew better, he had friends, and besides... besides, this was not the time to think about that. _Think about long-term Hair Removal Charms instead - there's something important about them, I just know it!_

"They say that revenge is a dish best served cold," said Claire, looking at him with an evil smile. "So I decided to go for the long-term plan. First, I tricked Loony into eating one of my special peppermints - loaded with sleeping potion, of course - and then it was the easiest thing in the world to sneak into her dormitory and with _Sensualis_and a few Dream Charms that she would have nice, erotic dreams about me. That was the start of it... it's so easy to turn dreams into obsessions if you just know the right magic."

Neville didn't know what a Dream Charm was - at least he couldn't remember Professor Flitwick ever mentioning them in class - but it wasn't too hard to guess. How long did _they_last, the fleeting thought asked, bringing with it the beginnings of an idea. He slowed down his undressing, hoping that he could stall until Claire had finished her story. "And nobody else noticed?" he said.

"If they did, they never said anything," said Claire with a shrug. "I reckon that if they noticed anything going on, they just thought I was setting up one of the traditional 'Ravenclaw-pranks-against-Loony-Lovegood' that are so popular in our House. Nobody cares about her either, you know."

"That's not true," said Neville, swallowing heavily. "I care."

"And now I'm giving you the opportunity to express your caring in a physical way!" said Claire. "You should thank me, really, this is the only way you'll ever get a woman." She giggled, a cheerful sound that sounded quite out of place. "You lied to me, didn't you? You never fucked Loony, you just let me think that. I should have guessed that you wouldn't have the guts to do anything, no-one with small Quidditch brooms on their underwear would be man enough to try fucking a girl. Oh, or someone who wears silly friendship bracelets - that's the same kind of bracelet that Loony's wearing, isn't it? How sweet."

Neville looked down. He was down to only his drawers, and of course he had put on the ones with the Quidditch brooms, the ones Great Aunt Ermitrude had given him for Christmas. He tried to ignore it, the elusive thought was becoming less and less elusive for every second, and the idea was turning into a plan.

_Just keep her talking!_ he thought. _It's better that she focuses on your drawers than your bracelet!_ "You don't know anything about friendship, do you, Savelle?" he said as defiantly as he could. "It's not about sex, it's about - it's about spending time with people because you _like _them! Because you enjoy their company! Just because you aren't planning on, on, having sex with someone doesn't mean they're not worth spending time around!"

"What a noble speech," said Claire mockingly. "I might even have taken it seriously if it hadn't come from a boy wearing Quidditch underwear. Which, I notice, is still not off. _Strip."_

Neville knew he was playing a dangerous game here, but right now it was important to keep Claire talking, to wait for the right moment. He demonstratively grabbed his drawers and pulled them demonstratively a little higher. "You still haven't told me how you got Luna to volunteer for Quidditch Commentator."

"Oh yes, that _was _a good touch, wasn't it?" said Claire. "It's called _'subliminal suggestion.'_ Muggle scientists have debated it for centuries. With Loony's resistance to me having collapsed thanks to a nightly diet of dreams and orgasm, it was easy to place her under an enchantment and plant some interesting commands in that kooky little brain of hers. I told her she really wanted to do the commentaries for the next Quidditch match, and she immediately went to Professor McGonagall and volunteered. I knew that Professor McGonagall hadn't managed to find anyone; it seems like most of the students would rather just watch the game than comment upon it. And when I - prized student who always gets top marks in Transfiguration - personally asked her to give Loony a chance, she relented. I imagine she regrets that now, but I reached my goal with it. "

"And, and, the goal was to, to make sure I figured out something was wrong," he said, "so I'd come, come over to the c-commentator's podium afterwards and get told to come here... where you waited for me!"

"Of course. And of course, it was a bonus that Loony managed to make a complete arse of herself at the podium," Claire laughed. "That commentary of hers... Complete humiliation. And the best part was that I didn't tell her anything of what to say! All of it was her own! Loser's lurgy and Hospital Wing records and all!"

"I, I thought she did extremely well," said Neville bravely - and untruthfully.

"You're not even fooling yourself," said Claire. "They'll be laughing at her for years afterwards... almost as long as they'll be talking about the shagging session she had with you afterwards, Longbottom." Her lips curled upwards in a cruel grin. "Speaking of which - drop your drawers _now _or I Vanish them!"

Neville let his drawers fall to the floor; he was painfully aware that save for the bracelet still on his arm (which didn't cover anything important anyway), he was completely naked under Claire's piercing eyes, and it was all he could do not to curl up and shield himself from her gaze.

"Much better..." Claire smirked. "But I see you're all limp, poor boy... isn't it exciting enough to be naked in the same room as a girl who's eagerly touching herself and waiting for you to come and give her a good fucking? Come over here, and I'll tell her to help you get it up... and then we'll see if it's true what they say, that it gets bigger when it gets harder..."

Neville braced himself. "N-no," he said.

Claire's grin broadened. "Excuse me?" she said cheerfully.

"No!" Neville repeated, feeling his voice grow a little stronger. "I'm not playing along anymore, Savelle!"

"Oh, come on," said Claire sweetly. "She's not that ugly, and you are a teenage boy! You should be jumping at the chance! Don't tell me you have never thought of it? All that time together with her, and you never once even _wondered_...?"

"That doesn't really matter, now does it?" said Neville. "This is _wrong_, and I'm not going to do it!"

"Oh, I hoped you'd get stubborn," said Claire, her grin turning evil as she waved her wand at him. "Now I get to do _this_to you: _Sensualis_!"

Neville braced himself, half-expecting the sensations of cruel pleasure that Luna had described to engulf him - but they didn't. Instead, Claire gave a gasp of surprise, toppled and fell down on the bed as if her knees grew weak, her wand falling out of her wand and hitting the floor with a small, dry sound.

Neville didn't waste a second. He threw himself forward and grabbed for the wand before Claire managed to raise herself, immediately finding out why it wasn't a good idea to throw yourself down naked on a stone floor but still managing to get the wand.

"Now," he said, breathing heavily as he pointed the wand at her and tried to raise himself without shaking too much, "now the tables are turned - aren't they? Don't move - or I'll hex you!"

"You - You!" Claire yelped, her voice a mixture of amazement and sheer fury. "What did you do to me? That felt like - it felt like -"

"You're not the only one who can plan long-term, Savelle," said Neville, having finally managed to get to his feet and now struggling to stay up. "I'll hex you, I swear I will, if you so much as move! I don't know that _Sensualis _one, but I can do many others!"

Claire glared at him.

"You should never have gone after Luna," said Neville, taking a step forward, still pointing the wand at her. "Maybe I am a clumsy and inept coward that doesn't matter in the least and nobody has any reason to care about - but the Sorting Hat put me into Gryffindor for a _reason!_ Gryffindors never, ever, turn their back on a friend!" He took another step forward.

And stepped and slid on his own wand, which was lying just beside the bed. He tried to keep his balance, but it was too late, and he fell on his backside with a huge, painful _THUD!_

Immediately, Claire was on him, pinning him to the floor, grabbing for her wand and snarling like a madwoman. Neville tried to fight back, but the fall had knocked all the breath out of him, and his back and bum hurt terribly, and he couldn't muster up enough strength to properly shove her off him. Both of them struggled, fighting and wrestling, but Claire managed to get a proper grip on the wand and yanking it out of Neville's hand.

"Now!" she hissed, her eyes flashing with madness and anger.

_"NO!"_ came a loud cry from behind her. And then, like a flesh-coloured, dirty-blonde blur, Luna Lovegood tackled Claire, knocking her off Neville. All the dullness was gone from her eyes, replaced with a fury that Neville had never before seen in the normally gentle Luna. _"DON'T - TOUCH - MY - FRIEND!" _she screamed.

They rolled around, Luna fighting and hitting and biting like a wild cat, but Claire had the advantage of being bigger, stronger and heavier, and after a short struggle managed to pin the furious naked girl.

"That's it!" she growled. "No more leeway! It's about time you got another lesson, Loony! _Sensualis Continuare!"_ She pointed her wand at Luna...

...and suddenly squealed, losing her grip on her wand and falling back, twitching, moaning and grunting loudly.

Luna slowly sat up, staring at Claire with big, grey eyes as the older girl rolled around and started rubbing her crotch furiously against the floor. "What -?" she began, in a whisper, looking as if she had just fallen down from the Moon - or at least from a cloud. Then, she blinked, and immediately turned towards Neville, crawling over to him at top speed. "Neville! Are you all right?"

Neville managed to sit up as Luna reached him, looking concerned. "I'm fine..." he managed. "Just a few bruises." He didn't get any further before Luna had wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug - which was not at all comfortable against his bruises, but at the moment he found he couldn't care less.

They stayed in the hug for a few seconds, before Neville suddenly remembered that they were both naked. Carefully and gently, he pushed Luna away, murmuring "Better - better go and - make sure Claire doesn't - doesn't... yeah..."

Luna reluctantly let him go, turning back to Claire, who was still lying on the ground, twitching uncontrollably. She had pulled up her robe to over her stomach, and had torn her knickers off, now furiously stroking and fingering herself with long, drawn-out cries of _"Aaaauuuugh! Ooooooohhhhhh!"_ Her wand had rolled a little way away from her, and Neville quickly picked it up, breathing a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" said Luna, looking at Claire with raised eyebrows. "Why is she doing that? Did you get an invisible Whingler to attack her? It must have been an extremely powerful one!"

"No..." Neville averted his eyes and got to his feet, making his way over to his clothes. "It was the bracelets."

Luna held up her right arm and looked at her bracelet. "These bracelets?"

"I got them from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," Neville explained as he picked up his underwear. "They act as a special kind of Shield Charm. Fred told me that they won't work against the stronger curses, but minor hexes or jinxes or - or charms, they'll not only protect the bearer from them but send them back to the caster, three times as powerful."

Luna looked back at Claire, who was still groaning and touching herself, oblivious to everything else. "So when she cast the _Sensualis Continuare_ on me -" she said.

" - she got a triple dose of it sent back at herself," said Neville, struggling to pull his robes on. "I wasn't sure if it would work first... I mean, er, you know, you were obviously under some kind of spell, and I thought that, that maybe the bracelets didn't work. But then she told me that she'd placed all those charms on you a full week ago, which was before you got the bracelet. So I was hoping..." he smiled sheepishly, pausing in his dressing. "I was hoping that it would work and that she'd cast something strong enough to, er, put herself out of commotion before she realised what the bracelets did."

Luna sat heavily down on the bed. She didn't bother to cover herself up; maybe she thought that since Neville had seen her naked for this long anyway, there was no point in suddenly being shy. "It wasn't just the charm, you know," she said airily. "She fed me some kind of potion too. When she took me here, she got out a potion and made me drink it, and all of the sudden I just felt all dull and sleepy and horny." She shrugged. "I would probably have been perfectly happy lying there and fingering myself for as long as the potion worked, but then I noticed that you were there, and she was threatening you, so I began to fight the potion. When she jumped on you, I suppose that was what made me shake completely free of it."

"Probably saved us both, then," said Neville, trying to smile. "It was your jumping on her that got her so mad that she - yeah, you know."

"I know." Luna was quiet for a while, her face devoid of any emotion as she sat there.

Neville sat down beside her. "Are you all right?" It was an extremely stupid question, but it was really the only one he could ask.

"No," said Luna, still without any emotion. "No, I can't honestly say that I am."

"Look," said Neville. "I'm sorry that I - I mean, I thought, I hoped, that she was still just biding her time. I didn't realise that she was - I didn't even imagine that she -"

"It's not your fault. It's hers."

"But I could have prevented it if I hadn't been so -"

"Oh, just - just _stop_!" Luna snapped, suddenly angry. "You're always apologising and having a go at yourself and thinking you're not worth anything, and it's driving me - it's driving me _loony!"_

Neville blinked. "I didn't mean to -"

"No! Don't apologise!"

"Sorry -"

_"No!"_

And then, without any of them really knowing how it had started, they were hugging again, and crying.

Accompanied by the grunts and frustrated moans of Claire Savelle, who was still lying on the floor and masturbating furiously, they held each other tightly, wordlessly comforting each other as they cried, partly with anger, partly with grief, and mostly with sheer relief that it was all over.

* * *

><p>Except it wasn't <em>over<em>, of course - things seldom are. Eventually, they had to let go of each other, and they had to make plans for what to do next. It was Luna who first realised this; she let go of Neville and sniffled. "Well, this isn't getting anything done, is it," she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I suppose not." Neville reluctantly let go and turned to look at Claire, who was completely lost in her own world of extreme sexual frustration, screaming and grunting as she rolled about on the floor, trying to stick her entire hand up her vagina. He swallowed and averted his eyes. "What are we going to do about her, though?"

Luna sighed. "I don't know. I suppose we should end the Charm on her. I remember what it felt like, she won't be in any condition to do anything."

And as Luna went to find some clothes, conveniently and characteristically for the Room of Requirement laid out for her on a nearby chair, Neville retrieved his wand from under the bed, noting to his relief that it hadn't been damaged at all by his accidental stepping on it.

"Look!" said Luna, holding up the clothes and actually looking excited. "These are _my_clothes! The ones Claire Vanished all those months ago! This is my favourite robe - and look! All the things I had in my pockets are here too! And my stockings, and my vest, and my purple bra - they're all here! I thought I'd never see any of them again!"

"So the Room can bring back Vanished objects too..." said Neville. "I didn't know that."

"Neither did I, but it makes sense," said Luna as she pulled on her knickers. "Vanished objects go into non-being, don't they? The Room does too, when it's not needed. Maybe it picks up all Vanished objects while there."

Some of her normal relaxed attitude was returning as she got dressed; while she still appeared shaken, she did look a lot better. "You know," she declared, as if having guessed his thoughts, "I _do _feel a lot better now. Maybe it's true what they say, that the robes make the wizard. Or, in my case, the underwear makes the witch. I'm feeling in a very purple mood right now."

"...and that's... good, is it?" said Neville uncertainly.

"Of course it is. I like purple."

Together, they picked the wriggling Claire up and placed her on the bed before Neville pointed his wand firmly at her.

_"Finite Incantatem,"_ he commanded, and Claire let out a huge wail, spasmed and shook, and kept on spasming and shaking.

"Almost a minute," said Luna when Claire finally calmed down, lying limply on the bed and breathing heavily. "That's not quite as long as it lasted for me that one time, but I was under the spell for much longer, even if it was probably not as powerful in my case."

"Savelle?" said Neville, poking her shoulder with his wand. "Can you hear me?"

There was no answer, but Luna nodded. "She can hear you, she's just a little overwhelmed right now. We should probably get her to the hospital wing."

Neville wanted to say no; there was no way he would lift a finger to help someone like Claire Savelle... but after a second or two, he sighed. "All right. At least she's still dressed. Somewhat," he added with a glance at the torn knickers that lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. Somehow, he really didn't want to spend any time looking for a new pair or dress Claire with them. "I'll support her while you follow us and hold her at wandpoint, in case she wakes up and decides to try something."

Luna agreed, but the plan proved a bit more difficult to follow up on than either of them had really anticipated.

The Quidditch match had been over for ages, and since there were no lessons today, there were more than a few students out and about in the hallways. This made it practically impossible for Luna to cover Claire with her wand without raising suspicion - not that they needed the wand to call on attention as they made their way down various corridors with a delirious Claire Savelle supported against Neville.

Not for the first time, Neville wished that he'd had an Invisibility Cloak like Harry did. It would have saved a lot of time if they could have gone past the students unnoticed instead of going through the same _"She's ill, we're taking her to the hospital wing"_ routine every time they met someone either they or Claire knew. Of course, no Invisibility Cloak in the world could have disguised the occasional string of curse words Claire muttered out in her half-present state of mind, which clearly shocked a few of the questioners.

"Colin! Colin! Did you hear what she said? She said -" Dennis Creevey's voice vanished behind them as they walked on, Neville trying to go as fast as possible in spite of his burden.

"Marietta!" Claire suddenly gasped.

Neville looked up - and true enough, there in front of them Marietta Edgecombe came walking up the hallways, the word _'SNEAK_' still faintly visible behind heavy layers of makeup, and a deadpan, emotionless expression in her eyes. When she noticed them, she shot them all an icy glare and sped up to walk past them as quickly as she could.

But Claire, more swiftly than Neville would have given her credit for in this state, wrestled out of his grip to stumble towards her. "I - I need you!" she sobbed, grabbing for the girl and managing to get hold of her robe.

"Let go!" Marietta shrieked.

Claire didn't. Neville grabbed her shoulders and tried pulling her off the unfortunate girl, but Claire clung on as if she had been fastened to Marietta with a Permanent Sticking Charm, both hands suddenly wrapped around the girl, and squeezing her buttocks through her robe. "I love you I love you I love your arse and your face and your tits and your cunt and your..." she babbled uncontrollably, ignoring Marietta's shrill cries of _"NO!"_ and _"Let me go!"_

_"Aguamenti!"_ came the sudden voice of Luna from beside them, and a jet of water hit Claire, causing her to gasp and sputter, in surprise letting go of Marietta who slid limply to the floor. Neville, not expecting the sudden lessening of weight, pulled Claire back so hard that they both toppled and fell over as well.

"Cold water helps if you're horny," said Luna, the only person left standing, as she stared dreamily at Claire, who was waving her arms frantically and trying to get back up. "I think you should take more cold showers."

Neville got to his feet and dragged the soaking wet Claire up with him. He was panting heavily, his heart seemed like it might jump out of his chest at any time, and he felt that he was getting very close to lose his patience. "We are going to -!" he began, but cut himself off by saying _"OOOFF!"_ when Claire gave him a hard elbow in the ribs.

Heaving for her breath with loud, shrill grunts, and with a manic look her face, Claire began running unsteadily down the corridor, her wet robe whipping around her and exposing her naked backside to them with every other step.

While Luna had dropped to her knees to take care of the motionless Marietta, Neville tried ignoring the pain in his ribs and looked upon in growing astonishment as Claire ran unsteadily down the corridor and collided with Professor McGonagall, who had just appeared around the corner together with Seamus - and as Claire, seeming like she had gone completely mad, threw herself at the Professor and tried to kiss her.

"Mmm! Mmmm! Mmmmgh!" she grunted wildly as she tried forcing her lips against McGonagall's.

For a brief moment, it seemed like McGonagall was completely, and uncharacteristically, at loss for words. But only for a brief moment. _"MISS SAVELLE!"_ she shouted. _"What is the meaning of this? Never in all my years...!"_

Claire fell back, as if the teacher had slapped her, and as she landed on the floor, her robes whipped around even further and exposed her naked crotch to McGonagall (and to Seamus, whose eyes looked like they would fall out of his skull if they got any bigger).

Professor McGonagall stared. So did Seamus, but a quick look from his teacher made him blush and quickly look another way.

"You lot," said McGonagall after having covered Claire up and checked to see if she was seriously injured, directing her gaze towards Neville, Luna and Marietta. "Can either of you give any reasonable explanation for this - this behaviour?"

"She was trying to force herself on Marietta, Professor McGonagall," said Luna from her spot on the floor, stroking the crying Marietta's hair. "Neville and I managed to stop her, but then she went all strange." She paused, adding in a thoughtful voice: "I thought cold water was supposed to stop people from being horny, not make them lose their minds completely."

McGonagall actually looked shocked. Her eyes looked unusually confused and uncertain as they met Neville's. "Mister Longbottom," she said in a hushed voice. "I trust you to be honest. Is Miss Lovegood telling the truth?"

Neville swallowed and nodded.

"Right," said McGonagall, suddenly all strict firmness again. "All of you, my office. Now."

* * *

><p>As it turned out, it was Seamus they could thank for McGonagall's timely interruption.<p>

After things had calmed down on the Quidditch pitch, and he'd been able to fend off the curious Parvati Patil, Seamus had discovered that he had lost sight of Claire, and after searching the area with the borrowed Spynoculars, had discovered that neither Neville nor Luna were anywhere in sight either.

He'd gone back to the castle, in the hope of finding them in the Room of Requirement, but no matter how many times he walked up and down the corridor, no matter how he pleaded or wished, he couldn't get the room to appear for him. It was then he'd grown truly worried and had tried locating Ginny and Dean in order to get their help, but they had vanished off to somewhere, and he couldn't find them either.

After a few minutes' wavering, in which his over-active mind dreamt up several unpleasant things that Claire might be doing to Luna and Neville at that very moment, he sought out Professor McGonagall instead, figuring that with Harry and Ron at the hospital wing, Hermione busy elsewhere, and Dean and Ginny nowhere to be found, the Head of Gryffindor House was the most sensible choice in who to turn to.

"Wasn't that a bit risky, though?" said Dean thoughtfully as he told this part of the story. "She could have entered and seen..." he bowed his head, letting the sentence trail off.

"You don't think she'd have expelled Luna, do you?" said Ginny. "Luna didn't do anything wrong! It wasn't her fault that Savelle - er, that she -" She cut herself off, looking at Luna, as if uncertain whether the other girl wanted her to continue or not.

"Hypnotised me and made me all strange and horny," said Luna helpfully.

"Yeah... that," said Ginny, her voice growing a little stronger. "But - but even what went on before. None of it was your fault, you know that? They couldn't have - they _wouldn't_ have expelled you for it. And if they _had_, I would have left Hogwarts in protest."

They were all gathered - Neville, Luna, Seamus, Dean and Ginny - in the same empty classroom that Luna had once hid in to escape humiliation from Claire. It had been Luna's idea to gather them all here; she claimed that it just 'felt right to complete the circle this way.'

And she had told them the entire story. Not a single detail was left out in her retelling of her twisted relationship with Claire, or of Neville's discovery of it and subsequent actions to help. Ginny, the only one present who hadn't known about Claire had been rather taken aback, but curiously enough she hadn't seemed nearly as embarrassed about Luna's explicit storytelling as the boys did. Maybe growing up with six older brothers just made you naturally immune to embarrassment.

Seamus, being quicker to recover than Dean, had filled in with the details on how he and McGonagall had come to be in just that corridor at just that point, and he had surprised them by telling it quite level-headedly and with no half-witted attempts at jokes or innuendos.

"Ginny's right," he said with a weak smile. "Besides, you know McGonagall. She might seem like a stuck-up prig who only thinks about rules, but she can't help admiring students who show the traditional Gryffindor spirit of courage and friendship."

"Some courage, running straight to a teacher for help," muttered Dean, but with no real venom behind the words.

"It takes a brave man to admit when he needs help," Seamus returned. "Old Irish proverb."

"It is not!" said Dean with a grin. "You always say that something is an old Irish proverb. You once told me that _'damn it all to Hell'_ was an old Irish proverb."

"It is. Honest." Seamus grinned, but then grew serious again. "In any case," he said, "I know I would've thought of _something _if I had to, but it turned out that I didn't need to, since you two were out and about with Savelle under your control," he finished, nodding at Neville and Luna.

Ginny shook her head. "And I never even knew what was going on." She looked back at Luna. "I thought all those rumours about you being a lesbian were, well, rumours."

Luna paused. "You know, I don't really think I _am_ a lesbian."

Ginny stared at her. So did Dean and Seamus, and, Neville realised after the first few shocked moments, so did he.

Seamus was, not unsurprisingly, the first to manage to speak again. "You spend several months having sex with another girl, or fantasising about having sex with another girl, and now you say you're not a lesbian? How the hell does that work?"

"Oh, I still find girls sexually attractive," said Luna, as casually as if she was merely discussing the weather. "But the thing is, you can only be a lesbian if you don't like boys, right? I've been thinking, I might be the same as Mummy. Daddy told me about her this Christmas. She had a few girlfriends while at Hogwarts. I don't know if she ever fucked them, but I think she might have, but she ended up marrying Daddy anyway, and he's not a girl."

"She was bisexual, then," said Ginny, the only person in the room who seemed unfazed by Luna's account of her mother's sexuality.

"There's a name for it?!" Luna looked genuinely surprised. "All right then, that's what I am as well. That's all right, isn't it?" She suddenly got an anxious look on her face, as if afraid they would tell her that it wasn't.

Ginny's eyes widened for a moment. Then she smiled, a little sadly, and Neville wondered if she, like him, had suddenly felt part of Luna's lonely life and was feeling for the girl. "Oh, Luna," she said. "We don't mind if you're a lesbian or a bisexual or whatever you are. We like _you_. As a person."

Luna beamed. "I didn't know I had this many friends... I'm going to need a bigger ceiling!" Whatever she meant by that, Neville didn't find out, because now she was hugging Ginny, Dean and Seamus and thanking them for helping to protect her

"It was all Neville, really," said Dean, still seeming a little embarrassed. "We didn't do all that much."

"No, but you would have," said Luna. "And that's what counts! I think that's what Claire never understood. With Marietta and all that... she probably did love her on some level, but she didn't really _love _her."

There was a slight pause while the others tried to make sense of this statement.

"What did happen to Marietta anyway?" Ginny finally said.

"She's still at the hospital wing," Luna answered. "I went up there to see Harry earlier, you know, to see if he had recovered after that Bludger. He'd already left, as it turned out, but Marietta was there. She didn't want to talk to me, though. I think Claire's assault, on top of everything else, proved to be too much for her. Poor girl."

"Poor girl?" said Dean. "This is the same Marietta who sold us out to Umbridge last year, remember that?"

"Yes, but still. It's not easy getting on that side of Claire. I should know. I cried almost all night, you know," said Luna solemnly. "Did you do that, Neville?"

"Not exactly, but... I didn't get much sleep either," said Neville.

Luna nodded. "It was probably just a delayed reaction or something like that - I think that's what it's called, anyway. I know Claire's gone now, but I couldn't stop thinking about what she did to me, and what she almost did to you."

They fell silent.

Of course, Claire had been expelled from Hogwarts the same day. If attempted rape of a fellow student hadn't been enough, trying to force herself on a teacher would definitely classify. The next morning, McGonagall had informed Neville that miss Savelle had left Hogwarts and was probably looking at a longer stay at St. Mungo's, since it appeared that the girl had quite lost her mind. Neville couldn't help wondering if this insanity was a side-effect of the bracelet reflecting that _Sensualis _Charm on her, and had promised himself to ask the Weasley twins whether they had added some extra features to the bracelets the next time he saw them.

"By the way," said Seamus after a while, looking at Dean, "where _were _you two while I was looking for you?"

"Nowhere," said Dean hurriedly. "It's not important."

"Not important!" Ginny huffed. "I'll tell you where we were! This insensitive lout here kept _laughing _about how McLaggen had almost _killed _poor Harry with that Bludger -"

"Oh, come _on -"_ Dean began.

" - so I took him aside to tell him exactly what I thought of such behaviour," said Ginny hotly.

"I keep telling you, I wasn't laughing about that," said Dean. "I was laughing about how McLaggen looked when Professor McGonagall told him off afterwards..."

"And then you said it was almost worth Harry nearly _dying_, just to see McLaggen like that!"

"I didn't say it like that!"

"You meant it!"

Neville sighed as Ginny and Dean began arguing again. He still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd contributed to the wedge between them by inadvertently planting the idea that Ginny was a lesbian in Dean's head, but he couldn't think of anything to say or do to repair the damage to their relationship.

As these unpleasant thoughts churned around in his head, he felt a soft and warm hand beginning to stroke his hair. He looked to his side to stare directly into Luna's eyes.

"Don't," she said solemnly. "I'm not blaming myself for anything, so you shouldn't either."

He couldn't help but laugh again. "That obvious, was it? All right, I'll try not to. Thank you, Luna."

She nodded, satisfied. Her hair tickled slightly as it brushed against him. "You know, I think I'll ask Professor McGonagall if I can keep the job as Quidditch Commentator," she said softly.

"Really?" said Neville, surprised.

"Really. I know I originally just did it because of Claire. But I did actually enjoy it while I was up there. And I talked to Professor Dumbledore earlier today, when he gave me a note to deliver to Harry, and he said that my commentary had been very unique and enjoyable, and that I should by all means continue if I wanted to. Not to mention, when I talked to Ron after that, he said he'd _loved _my commentary - apparently he could hear me from the hospital wing. So I thought, well why not? I'll continue doing it. But this time I'll do it because I _want _to, and not because anyone told me to."

Neville smiled.

* * *

><p>"And the Ravenclaw chasers are flying in some form of triangle," Luna said into the megaphone, "but I'm not sure if that means anything, because it's Gryffindor who has the Quaffle, and the weather's lovely today, the sky is a very nice blue - just the sort of day for flying, in fact. I like flying, but I'm not as good at it as Ginny. I rode on a Thestral last year, and that was very interesting, and very quick, you know, Professor Hagrid says that nothing's faster on the wing, except for maybe dragons, but I think he's forgotten about the Stripe-spotted Burglegumps, because they can fly halfway around the world in a minute. That's why nobody's ever managed to catch one, because they're too fast -"<p>

"Seventy-ten to Gryffindor!" McGonagall interrupted, her voice resigned.

"Oh yes," said Luna. "Nice shot, but the triangle didn't work. I think maybe the Ravenclaw Chasers were forming it so that the Gryffindor Chasers would get distracted and forget to score. I was distracted by a triangle once - did I ever tell you that story? It was like this..."

The stands were filled up with students who were partly laughing and partly groaning in frustration as Luna continued her story.

At one point, she looked down to see Neville sitting just beside the commentator's podium. He happened to look up at the same time, and as their eyes met, he smiled and gave her a 'thumbs-up.'

Luna's heart soared.

"You know, the 'thumbs-up' is a very interesting gesture," she said happily into the megaphone, hearing her own voice echoing across the stands. "Here in England, it's a sign of encouragement, but in Sweden it means '_I hope your donkey explodes.'_ At least I think it does, but I might be remembering it wrong. But since we aren't in Sweden now, it's a very encouraging gesture! Oh, look, Cho Chang is threatening Ginny Weasley with something, I can't hear what she's saying, but it's something about... _sex?_ No, wait, it's _Snitch._ Well, that's good, because I have it on good authority that Ginny doesn't like girls that way. Now Cho's face is going very red, and she's glaring at me, so maybe she didn't like hearing that... Ronald, if you don't stop laughing like that, you'll fall off your broom, you know..."

* * *

><p>Far away, in a closed ward of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, a young woman was lying in a bed and pondering her future.<p>

She was being kept for observation, they'd said, which she was bright enough to realise probably meant they thought she was completely off her rocker. This was _clearly_not the case - if she really had been insane, she would obviously have been the first one to know about it - but when it came down to it, she was probably better off as "insane." In fact, her supposed insanity might be the only thing keeping her out of Azkaban at this point, because the proof against her was overwhelming.

Attempted rape. Illegal sexual magic. Trying to assault a teacher.

Her parents had been very shocked, and had immediately agreed, as her next of kin (even though they were Muggles) that their daughter should be kept at St. Mungo's for the time being.

Nobody would listen to her if she told them how justified she had been in everything. Well, except for the way she had treated Marietta, she admitted to herself, she had quite clearly lost control there. She hoped Marietta would be okay.

She herself, however, was going to face some difficult times. She might have escaped imprisonment, and if she played along with the Healers they would probably release her from St. Mungo's eventually, but the fact remained that she had been expelled from Hogwarts. They had taken her wand, and she didn't know if it was still in one piece or not, but rather suspected that as soon as they thought she could handle it, she'd be informed it had been snapped and she would forever be forbidden from doing magic ever again.

If that was the case... well, it didn't matter. After all, she was of age, that stupid Trace was gone from her, so they couldn't stop her from practicing magic in secret. Because she _would _have her revenge on Longbottom and Lovegood.

And next time she wouldn't try to be _smart_, and she certainly wouldn't fall for the temptation to _gloat_. As soon as she had them in her grasp, she'd strike, and hard.

Feeling a little better, she closed her eyes and lost herself in highly pleasant dreams of her revenge... which eventually turned into highly pleasant dreams of Marietta returning to her and declaring her love and forgiveness...

* * *

><p><strong>EPILOGUE<strong>

* * *

><p>On August the 1st, 1997, four months and twenty-one days after Claire Savelle had been admitted to St. Mungo's, Death Eaters took over the Ministry of magic and began their relentless pursuit of Muggle-borns. All wizards and witches whose blood was found to be impure, including long-term hospital patients, were rounded up and either shipped off to Azkaban prison, or - in the case of the dangerously insane or terminally ill - executed outright.<p>

As the patient records of St. Mungo's were destroyed by hospital staff wanting to protect innocent Muggle-borns (and who paid dearly for it when their "treachery" was discovered), it's impossible to say whether Claire Savelle was still in the hospital at the time.

Neville Longbottom, during his brief career as an Auror, made several attempts at finding out exactly what had happened to Claire, but all anyone could say for certain was that she hadn't been among the many Muggle-borns released from Azkaban after the war ended, and nobody could remember when she had last been seen.

Was Claire one of the Muggle-borns that were executed during the reign of Voldemort? Or did she manage to escape, perhaps going abroad like she had planned? Or did she, as Luna Lovegood theorized, shed her human form and become a Whingler?

The truth is out there.

* * *

><p><strong>THE END!<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> And it's done. This was the first Harry Potter fanfic I ever finished, though as previously mentioned it's now gone through two revisions. This second one is fairly minor; I cleaned up a few awkward-sounding sentences, changed some dialogue to make it flow better, cut some superfluous explanations and rambling, and added a few new parts.

The epilogue, for example, is completely new - the previous drafts just ended with Claire in the hospital, but looking at it I thought I needed to at least address what happened later on. I did keep Claire's ultimate fate ambiguous, though, because... Well, maybe I'll tell you another time. _*innocent whistle*_

Now, I know that some of you are wondering whether that last conversation between Neville and Luna means that they are in love. Well... in truth, and you may not believe this, _Because She Told Me To_ was never meant to be a Luna/Neville romance. While their relationship was a central theme to the story, I was more interested in showing them as friends, and how they ended up being a positive influence on one another.

There's also the fact that I recently got a review who pointed out that the story _can_ be seen as a rather unfortunate "white, straight male defeats evil lesbian and rescues her poor victim, curing her of her homosexuality" story... an icky implication that I in no way intended but can certainly see how might be inferred. And going for a Luna/Neville romance would be an extra slap in the face there; Luna does not need to be "cured" (and I hope I do show that she did not become a heterosexual at the end - in my mind she was always bisexual) and is certainly not a "reward" for Neville for defeating the Wicked Lesbian.

I am actually pondering a rewrite of this story with some slightly less unfortunate implications... but that'll have to wait for another time, as I'm currently busy writing the (not at all adult-rated) multi-parter _Weasley Girl,_ an AU in which Ron Weasley was born a girl.

Final note, in case you were wondering: Once again, Luna's somewhat dubious source of Swedish culture has given her faulty information - 'thumbs-up' means exactly the same in Sweden as in England. The _'I hope your donkey explodes'_ meaning is, in fact, from Terry Pratchett's _Discworld _series - and this in itself is a parody of some real-world cultures where the 'thumbs-up' gesture has a negative or insulting meaning.

And now, there is nothing left to say, except: Thank you for reading.


End file.
